


Haleiwa Homecoming

by Stormblessed_Skywalker



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Ben is so soft for Rey, Ben secretly digs Rey, Ben's been top dog for a long time, Big time rivals, Biggest Surfing Competition of the Year, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Enemies to Lovers, F/M, First Order Surf, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Hawaiian Triple Crown, North Shore to be exact, Paige always refers to her binder, Redeemed Ben Solo, Resistance Surf, Rey hates Ben, Rey is an up and coming surfer, Rose will make you cookies, Slow Burn, Surfing, THIS STORY IS SET IN HAWAII, They're Rey's friends and the best chefs ever, They're all surfers, author learned most things via internet search, author lived there for two years, except Rose and Paige, forgive the author if info is outdated
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-20
Updated: 2021-03-10
Packaged: 2021-03-16 12:22:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 29,223
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29576064
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stormblessed_Skywalker/pseuds/Stormblessed_Skywalker
Summary: When Rey finally gets the chance to fly back home to the tropical island of Oahu, Hawaii to compete in the Vans Triple Crown of surfing, she's over the moon. She's been waiting for the chance to return home ever since signing with Resistance Surf and now is her chance to win it all and prove herself to the world as an elite surfer.What she didn't realize was that First Order Surf built their massive beach front mansion right next to the famed Resistance house, meaning that Rey would have to see Bad Boy of surfing, Ben Solo far more often than she wanted to. Ever. They don't exactly get along. She knows his history and made her judgement call years ago.But when the dangerous winter waves of the North Shore almost do their worst, Ben Solo is suddenly put into a new light for Rey and her whole world gets flipped upside down.
Relationships: Finn & Rey (Star Wars), Finn/Rose Tico, Poe Dameron/Finn, Rey & Rose Tico, Rey/Ben Solo, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 19
Kudos: 43





	1. Homecoming

**Author's Note:**

> Ahh I'm back! 
> 
> With a modern AU and not the "When We had Stars in Our Eyes" follow up. 
> 
> Welcome to Haleiwa Homecoming! A surfing AU set in the sunny and beautiful North Shore of Oahu, Hawaii. Where I used to live for college. And where my husband and I started dating. And hopefully one day we can go back, but with both families in Arizona, who knows! We can dream, right?
> 
> Anyways, this is going to be about 18-20 chapters long. I've gotten nine chapters written so far, so bear with me as I try to write out the rest of it. My life has gotten a little crazy (expecting our second child in June) so I will do my best to keep writing and updating on a consistent basis. 
> 
> I hope you enjoy!

**CHAPTER ONE: Homecoming**

**November 1st:**

Experiencing the last few moments in the air before an airplane landed was one of Rey Niima’s favorite things. 

She loved watching the streets and buildings grow larger—the tiny specs growing into minuscule cars and trucks. Or in this case, the faint details of the teal Honolulu waters come into sharper focus as the ocean’s ever churning currents and waves. She could spot the wake behind the small sailboats, trails of white water tailing the wooden sterns. And though she was probably just seeing things, she thought that just _maybe,_ she could spot the tails of humpback whales breaking the surface of the ocean, welcoming her home at last.

A small smile curved her lips as she watched the gorgeous ocean draw nearer. After four long years of touring North and South America and living in a cramped studio apartment in Huntington Beach, California, all in the name of her team Resistance Surf—she was coming home. 

Hopefully on a somewhat more permanent basis. 

At least, that was Rey’s dream.

The plane’s intercom chimed and a feminine, slightly accented voice began speaking in cool, dulcet tones. “Aloha, Hawaiian Airlines passengers. The Captain has informed us that we have begun our final descent and has asked that seatbelts remain fastened at this time. Flight attendants will be coming through one final time to collect completed agricultural forms and to offer our complimentary beverage, passion orange guava rum to welcome you to the Aloha state. In the meantime, please lift all seats and tray tables to their upright positions and put away any large electronic devices. Mahalo for your patience and for flying with Hawaiian Airlines.”

Rey sat up a little straighter at that. It wasn’t the best booze in the world, but anything that was mixed with her beloved POG was good in her books. She fiddled with the pen in her hands, checked over the form once more and signed her name, declaring that she was not bringing in any out of state fauna or flora.

She looked to her right at the couple seated next to her. They were obviously coming to Hawaii on their honeymoon by the looks of their googoo eyes. And oddly, she couldn’t find it in herself to feel bitter. Hawaii was a magical place and they should get to enjoy their time on the island. 

A few moments later, an attendant rolled by with the drinks cart and gave her a little cup filled with the nectar of the gods in exchange for her agricultural form. Rey lifted the cup up in cheers and then greedily drank its contents, the sweet juice mixing with the sharpness of the alcohol. 

Perfect.

She leaned back into her seat and enjoyed the view until at last, the wheels of the massive airbus a321 touched down on the tarmac and the lead flight attendant welcomed them into Hawaii. 

Luckily for her, she was seated near to the front of the plane, so within ten minutes, she was off and breathing in the warm, humid and distinctly Hawaiian smelling air. A huge grin broke across Rey’s face this time and she had to struggle to keep from running. Instead, she pulled out her phone and called her ride.

The phone stopped ringing almost immediately, replaced with the sweet, sweet voice of her best and oldest friend in the whole world, Rose Tico.

“Oh my goodness, is Rey-Rey finally on the island?” an excited voice called through the phone’s speaker. She shouted a little, voice cutting through the wind that was clearly coming through her open windows. 

Rey smiled as she exited the gate and entered the open air breezeways that would lead her to the baggage claim. “Rose! Yes, I just got off the plane.” She inhaled deeply, appreciated the familiar scent of her childhood home and strode past several tourists already sweltering in the humidity. “I’m headed to baggage now. Should have my bags and boards in about fifteen minutes. How far out are you?”

The line crackled for a moment before Rose responded. “Oh like twenty minutes away. I’m just entering town. You’ll be fine to just sit outside for a few, yeah?”

“Yeah that’ll be fine,” Rey replied. She was just _so happy_ to be back! “I’m really excited to see you, Rosie. It’s been too long.”

Rose’s laughter echoed over the line. “Yeah, sister, it’s been too long.” Then she continued, “Hey when are you gonna convince your boss lady to let you surf for her down here? You were practically made for these waves.”

Rey shrugged, then realizing that Rose couldn’t hear shrugs, answered vocally. “I dunno. I’m hoping that if I can win the Triple Crown, I can negotiate with Leia a bit and convince her to let me set up home base here and tour Polynesia and Australia for a while.” 

She entered the terminal and spotted a MAC makeup store. She was tempted to stop by and take a look at their lipsticks but quickly dismissed the thought. She was going to be in the water all day. Why would she need any more makeup than what she’d already brought?

“Well I hope that you can stay. Paige and I miss having you around to bother us. And to try our new recipes. And to pester incessantly…”

Rey laughed, “We’ll have to see. I think I have a decent shot.” More than decent, actually. There was only one other female surfer who could possibly beat her. But Rey didn’t need to think about that right now. She spotted the escalators that would take her down to baggage claim and made a beeline for them, dodging the slower moving travelers. “I’m gonna go get my stuff, Rose. Call me when you’re here!”

“Okay, bye bye haole!”

Her eyes rolled at the nickname and she hung up. You’d think that after living on the island for thirteen years would have freed her of the name. Though it was said with love, Haole was not something she wanted to be called. That term was reserved for the white tourists that frequented Oahu and the other islands. Not for someone like her.

And while she tried to not let it get to her, the term served as a reminder that she didn’t quite fit in here on the island—that she never really would. Despite the fact that she had spent the vast majority of her life living on Oahu.

Still, she was excited to see Rose and Paige again. And she could forgive them for teasing her with that stupid word. 

Her thoughts turned to why she was here again in the first place.

For the first time in ten years, women were competing in the full Vans Triple Crown on Oahu. And Rey had been one of the female pro surfers selected to compete. She was absolutely ecstatic. And honored. The women’s portion of the competition wasn’t as large as the Men’s—there were no more than twenty women competing total—so Rey was especially grateful for the opportunity she was being granted. Especially since she only made Masters about two years ago and the Championship Tour this last year. 

This is going to be amazing, she thought giddily. 

Rey located her flight’s carousel and removed her designated airplane sweater, revealing a lightweight shirt below, perfect for the balmy weather outside. She looked over at a touristy family already outfitted in leis and the term Haole seemed a much more appropriate descriptor of them. Pasty, a little flabby and clearly from some midwestern state based on the father’s accent.

Nothing like her. She’d been on the island since she was five years old. It was as much a part of her as her own soul was. 

The carousel rumbled and came to life, slowly distributing hundreds of suitcases and duffle bags. Rey stepped in closer, trying to position herself in a good spot to grab her things. Unfortunately, everyone else had that idea and soon she was being jostled and pressed between several others who were eager to get their stuff and escape the stuffy area. 

Stupid people and their lack of respect for personal space. She should shove them out of the way for good measure, teach them a lesson for getting in her grill. But that would have been too rude, so instead, Rey forced her way forward and broke out of the crowd. A large silver hard case tied with a horrid green and yellow ribbon tied to the handle had just rolled down and was making its way to her. Perfect. She heaved it out of the carousel and waited for the second, smaller suitcase with an equally ugly purple ribbon. Rey had made the color selections in hopes of warding off suitcase thieves and general confusion seeing as more and more silver hard suitcases were popping up.

Once she had those in hand, she made her away over to the oversize luggage area to grab her two prized surf boards. Or as she liked to call them, her precious babies. Her pride and joy. She’d designed them herself and then painstakingly shaved them to perfection. They were as custom as custom could get and they were _perfect._ If anything were to happen to them, well, she didn’t care to entertain that thought. An attendant was waiting to check luggage stubs and examined hers quickly before passing off her carefully packaged boards over to her.

Now came the juggling act. With two short boards and two suitcases, she was going to have a heck of a time getting everything out of baggage claim in one piece. 

But somehow, she managed it. 

Rey sat down on a concrete bench and sighed happily once more, still not entirely over the fact that she was back on Oahu and was just over an hour away from her true home, the North Shore.

Her phone started buzzing in her hand and she answered immediately. “Hey, Rose. I’m just outside baggage, can’t miss me.”

“Oh perfect! Okay, see you in a second. I’m just pulling in now.”

Rey looked down the terminal road and spotted an old rusted truck chugging its way toward her. The Tico sister’s green pick up truck had seen better years, but it was as reliable as they came, rust pocks and all. Rey sprang to her feet and waved to her best friend, smiling widely.

Island reggae music was playing loudly through the rolled down windows, echoing against the concrete and asphalt.

“Rey-Rey!” Rose shouted as she parked and hopped out of the truck, running to meet Rey.

“Rosie!” Rey cried happily. The two girls crashed together in a mess of limbs and elbows.

Rose pulled away, dark eyes crinkled into a huge grin. “I can’t believe you’re here! For two whole months! We have so much to do! So much to catch up on! Ahh! It’s gonna be like old times!”

“It’s going to be fantastic! Are you gonna hit up some waves with me?” Rey asked as she started heaving her suitcases into the back of the truck.

Rose grabbed the boards, showing extra care as she placed them in the bed of the truck and nodded, “Yeah, you know I’m gonna be there as much as I can! But Paige and I are cooking every single meal for this lame house full of hungry surfers, so we’ll see how much Paige lets me get away.” 

They both plopped themselves into the cab and Rose took off, smirking at Rey sidelong, “Thanks for the gig, by the way. I don’t know how you managed to convince the CEO to take us on. What with our business just starting out and everything.”

Rey’s cheeks colored a bit and she shrugged. “Well you guys deserve it. Your food is amazing. Besides, Leia is really reasonable and I know she loves a good meal. So it wasn’t a hard sell.” 

Rose laughed. “But still, if this goes well, Paige and I are gonna be set.”

“Speaking of Paige, how is she doing? Still seeing Tallie?”

Rose’s glossy buns bounced as she shook her head in the negative. “Nah. They broke up about three months ago. Paige was a wreck, but I think it was for the best. Tallie was nice enough, but she wanted freedom and Paige was ready to settle down…”

That was a bummer to hear. Rey had been so certain that she was going to see an engagement on her Instagram feed one of these days. “Ah, well. Always more fish in the sea, I guess.”

Her friend nodded silently, focused on the freeway. “What about you, Rey? Did you meet any cute Cali boys while you were on the mainland?”

Rey refrained from rolling her eyes. The boys, because she refused to call them men, were the biggest waste of her time. After a few Bumble and Tinder flops, she’d sworn off dating and focused on training instead. “Oh, Rose. You don’t even know half of it. The men in California are somehow worse than the men here. I’ve decided that I’m just going to be single for the rest of my life.”

Rose snorted, “Rey, you’re twenty-two. You’ve got plenty of time before you can decide that you’re going to be single forever.” 

Rey groaned. “No I’m serious, Rose. And they’re like strangely threatened over the fact that I’m a professional surfer. They always quiz me about what I know and I’ve even had a few of them insist we go surf and then they get pissed when I surf better than they do.”

She changed lanes to merge onto the Likelike highway, absolutely unfazed by Rey. “Okay, so they’re losers. What about the foreign surfers? Like an Aussie or a Kiwi? Or maybe a nice Brazilian? South African?”

This time, Rey did roll her eyes. And then she flopped against the back of her seat. “They’re so self-centered they wouldn’t know how to talk to a girl if she bit them in the ass.” Rose burst out laughing. “Honestly, almost every single surfer is that way, it doesn’t matter where they’re from. All they want to talk about is how many competitions they’ve won and then expect me to be impressed over it. It’s like they totally forget I’m a competitor too and have won several of my own.”

“Well still don’t give up. Like I said, you’re only twenty-two. Wait until you’re my age to start freaking out.

Rey’s brow rose skeptically. “You’re only one year older than me,” she deadpanned.

“Then I guess you’ve only got one year left,” Rose quipped back.

“Well shit.”

Both girls laughed at that and then let a natural silence settle between them. Rey gazed out of her open window and let the wind blow through her hair. The rich smells of the jungle foliage filled her senses and she leaned her head back against the headrest, closing her eyes and enjoying the feel of being home fill and soothe her soul.

The last four years had been fun, of course. She probably wouldn’t trade them for anything, even for four more years on Oahu. But they had been difficult and she’d felt lonely more often than not. She’d made a few ‘friends’ in California, but nothing like Rose or Paige Tico. Or like the friends she’d made while surfing with Resistance. Finn Storm and Poe Dameron especially. But those two were put on the Polynesian circuit while she’d been assigned to another, so meeting with them to catch up had been a very rare occasion. 

They’d passed Kaneohe and were nearing the Valley of Temples when Rose spoke up again, this time solemnly. “We’ve been taking care of Auntie Maz’s grave while you were away. We bring flowers whenever we go to see Mom and Dad.”

The mention of Maz stung her more sharply than she’d expected. Her adopted mother had been gone for almost three years now. And Rey’s biggest regret in signing with Resistance was the fact that she couldn’t be there for Maz in the end, when things got really bad. 

Rey’s eyes prickled while her throat tightened with tears as she thought of the woman who became her mother. Maz Kanata made her promise to go and surf for Resistance because she knew that Rey had a real shot at becoming something special. It was the most difficult decision for Rey, but when someone tells you that their dying wish is for you to take the chance offered to make something of yourself, well… you honor that wish. 

And so, not long after Maz’s cervical cancer had been determined to be terminal, Rey packed her bags and moved to Southern California as Resistance Surf’s newest team member.

“Thank you,” she whispered thickly through a tight throat. “Thank you so much for caring for her while I was away.”

Rose nodded sadly. “She was our Auntie. She took care of us after Mom and Dad died. It was the least we could do.”

“I miss her.” 

“Yeah, I know,” came Rose’s gentle response. “But you know what she would say…”

“The belonging you seek isn’t behind you, it’s ahead,” they quoted together with fond smiles. It was one of Maz's favorite things to say during her final days whenever Rey cried about not being there to take care of her ailing foster mother. She always said it to remind Rey that even though she would be gone soon, Rey would find others who loved her just as much.

“Hey,” Rose said suddenly, “Do you remember what Maz did to us when she found out we’d been ditching Miss Ah Su’s english lit class to go hit up the beach?”

Rey chuckled at the question and was silently relieved for the change in subject. It was early November of their junior year (Rey had skipped a grade, putting her up with Rose) and the first winter swells had arrived. They both decided that they would ditch their last class on an unimportant Friday and go to Sunset Beach. They rode their bikes to Maz’s house and grabbed Rey’s boards before taking the bus north. Maz had been working, so they thought they’d made it out free and clear.

But—and Rey should have expected this—Maz found them within thirty minutes of Rose and Rey arriving at the beach.

“Well, she immediately reported you to your parents, who reamed you out for it. But I remember she made me call Miss Ah Su to apologize and then made me submit double assignments for the rest of the semester.” It made damn sure that Rey never skipped out on a class again. 

It was brutal, writing two essays per assignment when she was already loaded with calculus and physics homework. She’d been pissed at Maz for months because Maz had insisted that Rey got a big punishment when her teacher had only intended to assign an essay on the merits of attending class. Whenever Rey had complained, Maz merely adjusted her bottle glasses and smiled, sweetly telling her that it ensured Rey wouldn’t play hookie anymore.

“No, not that part,” Rose waved, “ _Before_ the punishment stuff.”

Rey pursed her lips for a moment before remembering. “She came out on her little surfboard and surfed with us for about an hour before she grabbed us both by our ears and practically dragged us to shore by herself. I remember her shouting at us the whole way in.”

Rose nodded with enthusiasm. “Yeah! I totally thought we’d gotten away with it and then BAM! Felt like my ear was going to get ripped off. Auntie got us good that time, yeah?”

“I knew the entire time she was going to do something. I was absolutely sick to my stomach, just waiting for it.”

She’d never forget the twisting nausea she felt while Maz surfed with them. Guilt was first and foremost because good grades were important to Maz and Rey never wanted to disappoint that saint of a woman. The guilt was followed by shame and nervous anticipation. And last was annoyance that she’d been caught.

The cab got quiet again.

“We’ll go visit her grave together, alright? You can tell her all about your Cali days, you mainlander!”

  
  


Rey nodded and gazed out the window, getting her first glimpse of the coastline. “Yeah, I’d really like that.”

* * *

Rey had never been so excited to stay at a house before. 

Well, she had been pretty excited to get out of Unkar Plutt’s rusty and cockroach infested trailer in Hauula and into Maz’s tiny little two bedroom at the tender age of eight.

But this took the cake. 

This was the first time that she’d been invited to stay at the world famous Resistance House. There would be a pantry and fridge fully stocked with snacks and drinks, two in-house chefs whom she knew personally, so she knew their food was going to be phenomenal. The house itself was beachside on one of the best beaches to surf at: Banzai Pipeline.

And. 

And Rose had informed her that she was almost certainly getting her own room because Jessica Pava dropped out of the competition this year.

So, she supposed she had Jess to thank for it. But still. She was getting her own bloody room in the Resistance House!

Rose made the final turn onto their street and Rey caught sight of her home for the next two months and let out a little squeal of excitement. 

It was perfect! Two and a half stories with a total of eight bedrooms and a massive first floor common room and kitchen. The house was a nice, even cream accented with a teal that almost perfectly matched the ocean behind it. The top floor, which was really only half a floor combined with a beautiful deck that overlooked the beach, contained two rooms that were reserved for their CEO, Leia Organa Solo and her twin brother and COO, Luke Skywalker. As she looked at the lush greenery that breathed life into the area, Rey felt envious of the pair. That deck looked like a paradise. But really, the whole house was lovely.

Rey glanced to look around at the other houses and then did a double take. The house next to Resistance House could only be described as a monstrosity.

It was clearly wider than the property should have allowed for and obviously too tall. The behemoth of a house was all harsh lines and angles and painted black, accented with stainless steel or some other ridiculous metal like chrome. There were several luxury cars parked behind its gates, two of which were a matte black Range Rover _and_ a Mercedes-Benz G class and Rey grew unnecessarily angry at the sight of them and the stupid house.

“You noticed our new neighbors, I see,” Rose noted wryly as she parked in the Resistance House driveway. 

Rey had a pretty good idea of who that house belonged to and therefore didn’t want confirmation, thank you very much. But Rose wasn’t a mind reader so she told her anyway.

“First Order bought the property and started building that thing late last year. They only just finished it a few months ago.” She looked up at it and whistled. “I’ve gotta admire them for their dedication to the modern aesthetic, but man am I pissed that they decided to build here of all places.”

Rey narrowed her eyes at the stupid house as if the inhabitants inside would be able to feel her ire. “Snoke did it as a power move, the bastard. As if he hasn’t done enough to the Skywalkers already.” She grabbed her suitcases and heaved them out, cursing when one clipped her shin. That was going to bruise.

“Is _he_ there, then?” Rey finally asked once they finished carrying her luggage to the door.

Rose paused. “I mean, I haven’t seen him yet. Paige and I only moved into the back house two days ago. But I’m sure he’s there.”

Rey’s scowl deepened. Of course bloody Ben Solo would be in that giant spaceship house. Of course he would be here in Hawaii. He’s only been the World Champion the past two years and won the Vans Triple Crown five years running. 

In all fairness, Rey knew that she shouldn’t hate Ben Solo as much as she did. She hardly even knew him. But she knew his parents, Leia and her late husband, Han very well. And she knew how much heartbreak their stupid son had caused them over the past seven years. Somehow, Rey had bonded with her boss and her roguish husband after moving to California. They’d basically become pseudo parents to her. Leia was often busy, but she always made sure to invite Rey over for dinner when she could and checked in on her often enough. It was the main reason why Rey felt so loyal to Resistance Surf and so antagonistic towards Leia's wayward son and First Order. 

She also heard from multiple surfers about what an ass he was and how dirty he surfed. Hell, she’d witnessed his questionable tactics herself several times. It was essential to being a surfer for First Order. So of course, her rather negative feelings toward the traitorous Skywalker scion were completely justified. 

She’d never ever let Leia know just how much she despised her son though. Even though, again, the feelings were _absolutely_ justified.

“The less I see of that brat, the better,” she finally settled on. 

“Ha, we’ll see about that, Rey-Rey.”

Rose pushed the door open and shouted, “Hey! You beach bums better get down here to come see Rey!”

Immediately a mop of dark brown curly hair popped up over the sofa and shot off a megawatt smile.

“Rey!” Poe Dameron shouted, leaping over the back of the sofa and wrapped her up in a bear hug. “Long time no see, sister! It’s good to see you again!” 

“Captain Poe Hot-Dameron!” Rey exclaimed with just as much energy, “I don’t think you know how good it is to see _you!_ ” She pulled back and examined him. “How have you not gotten skin cancer yet, Dameron? You like you’ve never seen sunscreen in your life!”

Poe sent her an easy smile and shrugged half-heartedly. “It’s the Guatemalan in me, I guess. Makes me impervious to sunburn.”

Rey’s brows shot up to her hairline, because the shade of Poe’s skin was akin to the hue of a freshly steamed lobster.

“You aren’t going outside again until I personally apply SPF 100 onto every visible inch of skin,” Rose called from the kitchen, now settled and in the middle of finely chopping an onion. 

Poe’s smile turned to a smirk. “Add every inch of non visible skin to that offer and we’ve got a deal, Tico.” 

Rey doubled over laughing, especially after she’d caught sight of Rose’s cheeks, which now matched Poe’s sunburn.

Paige, Rose’s older sister, stopped seasoning some big hunks of meat and stared at Poe with a warning. “Poe…”

The curly haired surfer rose his hands in surrender. “Just teasing, Paigey!” 

The elder Tico sister returned to her work. “You better be,” she said with a long suffering sigh.

“So!” Poe said, turning back to Rey, “How was the flight? You fly first class? How’ve you been the past eight months since we’ve seen each other?”

Rey dropped her backpack on a hanger and kicked off her shoes, following Poe to the bar.

“Flight was as good as sitting in coach can get and I’ve been fine. Not much has been going on aside from a few competitions.”

The sound of pounding feet sounded on the stairs and Rey looked up just in time to see another surfer, Kaydel Ko Connix pounce on her. She barely had time to brace her palms on the bar before the impact struck.

“Rey! I’m so happy you’re here! It’s been so long! Way too long! Oh my gosh, you look fantastic! Did you grow your hair out?” Rey’s head was tugged to the side as Kaydel started playing with it. “It looks so good! Oh my gosh you have to come with us to Waikiki tonight! We’re gonna go party! And then we’ll go to IHOP or something and stuff our faces with pancakes after. Gotta soak all that alcohol up with something, amiright? Doesn’t that sound like so much fun?”

Kaydel was sunshine and daisies all mixed up with sass and Southern charm. She was always super inclusive and always invited Rey to the things she went to and was just a really genuinely kind person. When Rey was in the mood to go out and have a blast, Kaydel was the person to go to. And she had a lot of great memories with the blonde. Rey would even consider Kaydel one of her closest friends. But sometimes—like now—Kaydel didn’t quite grasp the concept of personal space or basic boundaries. 

Hence the reason Kaydel was totally wrapped around Rey right now fiddling with her hair, that until about a minute ago, had been pulled back into a half pony.

Rey looked around for some help, but Poe was busy chatting with another teammate that had made their way downstairs, Zorii Bliss, who Rey didn’t know well yet. She was nearing thirty and was also on a different circuit from Rey, so they’d never really gotten the chance to speak. Zorii’s specialty was surfing big waves. Rey’s...was not.

So realizing that she would get no help from Poe, Rey sighed and resigned herself to Kay’s grooming while Rose snickered behind her hand. 

That jerk. 

“Rey? Do you wanna come?” Kaydel asked while pulling hair along Rey’s crown into a tight braid.

“Oh! Uh, maybe! It all depends on how I feel later with the time difference and all.” Most likely she would be out by eight tonight. “Who all is going?”

Kaydel perked up. “Everyone that’s standing in this room right now! And Finn! Mmm, some other surfers from Billabong and maybe a few guys from Hurley?”

At the mention of Finn, Rey completely forgot about the fact that she was currently Kaydel’s personal Barbie doll and sat up straighter. “Finn is coming? Today?” A huge grin formed on her lips, “That filthy liar told me he was coming tomorrow!”

Poe shot Kaydel an annoyed look and then made eye contact with Rey. “Yeah,” he said sheepishly. “He wanted to surprise you, but it looks like _someone_ couldn’t keep their mouth shut.”

Kaydel blushed from behind her hands and peeped out a little sorry.

But Rey was stoked. “Oh who cares about a bloody surprise when my best friend is going to get here a whole day earlier than I thought!”

“Hey!” 

Rey looked back at Rose, who was glaring back at her. “I’m your best friend. Not some small kine surfer boy you met a few years ago!”

Now it was Rey’s turn to flash a sheepish grin back at her. “Of course, Rosie, you’re number one. But Finn is a definite close second.”

Rose humphed and turned back to chopping—carrots this time. “He better not claim my spot if he knows what's good for him.”

Rey held her hand over her heart solemnly, “Never, ever.”

“Good.” Then she promptly tuned them out by popping airpods in.

Rey returned to her hanging conversation with the other three surfers. “Okay, so when does he get here?”

Kaydel seemed to have recovered from her misstep, so she answered. “He should be here around three—”

“Just in time for you lot to get to Sunset for practice,” a British accented voice called from the open deck. 

Beaumont Kin, Leia’s personal assistant and current Resistance house manager, was walking in through the deck, phone still held up to his ear. But the call seemed to be over, so he carefully tucked it into his board shorts pocket. 

“Good to see you again, Niima,” he greeted with a kind smile. “Sorry I didn’t come in right away, I was on the phone with the boss lady.” 

“What does the boss lady say?” Poe asked from his stool, leaning his back against the bar counter.

“She wants you all to stick to the schedules I give you and to _not_ party too hard,” Beaumont stared at Kaydel for a moment before she blushed and shrugged sheepishly.

“Competition’s still a couple days away, Beau,” she countered. “And everyone is going to be here tonight. So, come on! Let’s live a little!”

Beaumont sighed in exasperation and then dropped his shoulders low. He knew when he was defeated. “Just this once, fine.”

Then he turned his attention to Rose and Paige. “Alright, so I need one of you to come with me. We’re going to pick up lunch for these bums.”

Poe’s eyes lit up. “Really? Sweet! Where’s the food coming from?”

“Where do you want it to come from, Dameron?”

Kaydel beat Poe to the punch. “I’ve been dreaming of pad thai.” 

Mmm, that sounded fantastic. “I want Thai too!” Rey interjected before Poe could say otherwise.

Beaumont looked at Zorii for her answer. “Yeah, Thai sounds good to me, just make sure to pick up some fresh summer rolls,” she said while heading over to the couch and flopping down on it.

Their manager nodded, satisfied that they’d been able to agree on something so easily. 

“Woah, woah, hold up.”

“What is it, Dameron?”

“You asked me, right?” Poe asked pointedly.

Beaumont released a heavy breath. “I suppose I did, but you didn’t answer fast enough.”

Poe’s voice shot up several octaves, “Kay cut me off!”

“And what were you going to ask for? Seven Brothers?”

_Also a delicious choice_ , Rey thought. She would have been happy with either, truth be told.

“Can you blame me? Their food is amazing!”

Everyone groaned, indicating that Rey was missing out on something. 

“Poe, we had that last night. And I’m pretty sure you had it for lunch the day before,” Paige Tico called from the stove.

Poe Dameron shrugged with an easy smile. “Again, can you blame me? Have you had their paniolo burger? Their coconut macadamia shrimp? Their chocolate chip _banana bread_?!”

Rey’s stomach rumbled. It had been over three years since she’d eaten Seven Brothers. And she was definitely ready to wrap herself up in one of their teri burgers. 

Beaumont, business as always, shook his head, denying Poe’s wish. “Dameron, we’re gonna do Thai today, alright? I’m sure you can survive one day without a banana bread sundae.”

The mop headed surfer sulked and slumped onto the couch next to Zorii. “Fine. But I want pineapple fried rice and I don’t want anyone giving me shit for it, okay? Curry wrecks me and if we need to have practice at three, then I can’t touch the stuff.”

“I’m surprised Seven Brothers doesn’t wreck him with how often he eats there. The paniolo burger always wrecks me,” Rose whispered to Paige and Rey, who had to cover her snort with a cough.

“I heard that, little Tico!” Poe yelled from his spot on the couch.

Rose simply grinned in response.

“Focus, guys,” Beaumont called. “Okay Kaydel, what do you want?”

“Pad thai, please!”

“Got it,” he said, noting the order on his phone. “Zorii?”

“Green curry. Thai hot. And those summer rolls with the shrimp.”

“Tico sisters?”

Paige answered for the two of them, “We want two orders of pad see ew.”

“Rey?”

Shit, what did she want? She was always happy to eat some pad thai. Or red curry. Or, ooh. Got it. She knew exactly what she wanted. “Panang curry with coconut rice.” Her absolute favorite. The slight sweetness of palm sugar and coconut milk mixed with the richness of roasted peanuts and the heat of chili. A slight tang of kaffir lime and lemon grass. She spent too much time researching the recipes and foreign ingredients… One day, she’d make it one her own. Homemade curry paste and all. Better to be educated beforehand by indulging in it, right?

With that, Beaumont was satisfied and left the living room to go order. Paige and Rose started arguing about who had to go and Rose lost.

Lunch was settled. It was going to be a hot second before the food made it back with how notoriously slow North Shore restaurants were and Rey was itching to go outside.

“Hey, I’m gonna go surf for a bit,” she announced to the room, hopping off her bar stool. “Anyone want to join?” 

“That’s a great idea, Niima!” Beaumont called from outside. “It’s gonna be over an hour before we get back with food, so you might as well reacquaint yourself now.”

Poe and Kaydel hopped up to join her. In the short time between telling Beaumont her order and now, Zorii had fallen asleep, so they didn’t dare wake her up.

Rey raced up to her room and hardly even thought about how it was all hers while she changed into her suit. For four years, she’d been stuck surfing in water that was about as warm as day old bathwater in a drafty room during winter, except for the occasional tournament down in Rio. So she was ridiculously excited to finally be back in water that was the proper temperature for surfing, a nice 80 degrees fahrenheit.

She practically skipped down the stairs while rubbing sunscreen all over herself so that she could grab her boards from Rose’s truck. From there, she walked past the side of the house with her favorite board under arm and ignored the black and steel monstrosity to her left. 

And with what was probably the happiest sigh to ever have escaped her, stepped onto the world’s best sand at one of the world’s best beaches. 

Poe and Kaydel were already out on the water with their boards. They hadn’t needed to change like she had. So Rey jogged down to the shore break and almost cried tears of joy when the warm Hawaiian water washed over her ankles—squishy sand swallowing her feet whole—and she didn’t recoil from the bite of cold.

Rey felt like she could breathe again at last. 

The further she paddled into the surf, the more the past four years melted away. There was nothing quite like being welcomed home by the sea you loved. She shut her eyes as a wave rolled toward her and pressed the nose of her board down, letting the foam of the wave wash over her clear up to her shoulders. 

God, she hoped that she would never have to leave here on a permanent basis again. 

She laid against the board again and resumed an even paddle again, drawing closer to her teammates with every stroke. 

“How does it feel to be back on the North Shore?” Kaydel asked, brown eyes squinted in a smile.

Unfortunately, the only answer Rey could come up with was cheesy, but dammit! It was how she felt. “It feels like coming home.”

Poe faked a gag behind Kaydel. “Gross. Can we surf now?”

The three of them met and Poe launched into his classic run down of the conditions. 

“So the waves aren’t super clean right now, and probably won’t get any better today so I doubt the barrels are open enough for anything. But it’s definitely doable. We shouldn’t have any issues with at least practicing some carves’n shit right now.”

“So just be careful. Pay attention to the sets coming in because I’ve noticed a few closeouts and I don’t want anyone eating coral before the qualifiers. And I especially don’t want anyone creasing their boards before the competition starts.” Rey’s stomach dropped a little at the thought of wrecking her favorite board and shaded her eyes to survey the current set. “Let’s go Rey, Kaydel and then me, alright? That way no one’s fighting over waves.”

With that, they spread themselves out and settled on the decks of their boards, waiting for the next set to roll in.

Less than five minutes of waiting, which still felt too long for Rey, an adequate set started forming. She patted the waxed surface of her board and began charging forward, timing it so that the wave picked her up perfectly. 

She stood and dropped into the face of the wave and cut back and forth, getting a feel for it and then carved into the blue green water a few times, hips rotating to keep the momentum of the ride just a little longer. Bits of white water sprayed back and wet her face as she rode down the wave. It felt incredible being back in the water here. Like homecoming, a reunion of old friends. 

After the wave started losing juice, she kicked out and made her way back to Poe. Kaydel was in the middle of riding her own wave. 

Poe caught his own wave shortly after. It was a little choppy, but he was good enough that it didn’t matter much to him.

Rey looked over her shoulder to see if there were more waves coming, but it appeared to be the end of that particular set. So she relaxed and stared down into the water, watching the rippling sand below and hoping that maybe she’d spot a sea turtle.

They got lucky with another set shortly after and repeated the cycle a few more times. 

Each time, Rey felt more and more confident that she was ready for qualifiers. This competition was practically in the bag for her. The Surfer’s Journal had named her one of the Triple Crown favorites months ago and she’d only done better since then. The only other person who could possibly get in her way of winning was—

Was on her board, flanked by four other surfers, paddling out towards them.

Rey hissed.

“What the hell are they coming over here for?” Poe demanded, wiping his hair from his face. 

Rey wanted to know why as well. Instead of replying, she simply sat up straight on her board and glowered at the five incoming invaders. 

Of all the open spots in the area, the First Order surf team was aimed to enter their zone. And by the looks of it, they meant to take it from the Resistance surfers.


	2. First Order Sucks

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aand here is chapter two! 
> 
> TRIGGER WARNING: Scary stuff with oceans later in the chapter. If oceans and big waves freak you out or if you don't want to read about drowning, please consider skipping from the phrase: "And then she was in the wave..." to "She gasped as her head broke the surface."
> 
> Disclaimer: I am not a surfer. Everything written has been learnt through reading and watching youtube videos. I will try to correct what I can if I am told otherwise, but if it messes with the plot line too much I won't be able to make those fixes.

**CHAPTER TWO: First Order Sucks**

November 1st:

In the forefront of the incoming pack was Gwyneth Phasma, the biggest obstacle to Rey winning it all. She paddled smoothly towards them, face a mask of calm. Flanking her were of course, Armitage Hux, Bazine Netal, a new guy and Ben bloody Solo.

Of bloody course those jackasses couldn’t be bothered to go find their own spot. Of course they had to make straight for where Rey and the others were surfing. It’s not like there were hundreds of surfers crowded in right now, forcing First Order to come into Resistance’s zone. No. There was plenty of space.

They just wanted to be assholes.

Poe, ever the captain, though they didn’t officially have one, was already coaching Rey and Kaydel on how to react when their rival team entered the Resistance surf zone. 

“Don’t give them the satisfaction, alright?” He looked at Rey directly and she rolled her eyes before nodding in assent. “They’re here to piss us off, to get into our heads before qualifiers. So seriously, if they start snaking on us or try to egg us on, we are going to head to shore. Got it Niima?”

Rey pulled a face. “Why are you calling me out specifically?”

Poe sent her a look. “Because you have this weird thing with Solo and I know he actively tries to get a rise out of you. So please, just paddle away. If not for my sake, at least for Leia’s. You know she doesn’t need the drama right now.”

Ugh. Why was Poe acting all noble all of the sudden? It was making Rey want to shove him off his metaphorical high horse and ignore everything he was saying. 

Instead, she argued. “You’ve got beef with Solo too, Poe. Worse than I’ve got. Haven’t you two gotten into a fist fight before?”

Poe’s face darkened just a shade at the memory. “Yeah, that happened. And yeah I know all about my issues with Solo. But the difference here is I’m not going to let him or any of the others get to me. And I would really appreciate it if you would do the same.”

He was right of course. He usually was. But there was just something about Ben Solo that made Rey want to punch him in the face and knock him into a white water wave and watch him get jumbled underneath. Most of it had to do with his falling out with his family. And the Finn issue. But there was also just something about him that just really pissed her off.

She groaned and finally agreed. “Fine. If they start stealing waves, which you know that’s exactly what they’re going to do — I promise I won’t pick a fight with them and will swim away like a good little girl.” 

“Could do without the sarcasm, but thanks Rey. I appreciate it.” Poe turned his board into position and dutifully waited for a new set to roll in. Unfortunately for him, the five First Order surfers invaded their zone just before a wave arrived. Which meant that now he was going to have to fight for it.

“Just ignore them,” Poe reminded her under his breath. Then he greeted Solo and the others tersely before positioning himself to take the incoming wave.

Rey stiffened, as Ben Solo had drifted a little too close to her for her liking and gave one stiff nod in acknowledgement of Poe’s greeting. 

“There’s a wave nearing,” she told Poe quietly, “Better make your move before one of them cuts you off and steals it.”

Poe dropped onto his deck and hurried away as Kaydel came closer. “Solo is staring at you, Rey,” she remarked with an odd smile. “I don’t think I’ve seen him blink once since he’s gotten here.”

Rey looked up and met Ben Solo’s black eyes, noting how his stupid dark hair was pushed back and shined healthily in the midday sun and how his stupid moles littered his entire torso. She sent him her darkest look before turning her head away sharply. If she didn’t know any better, she’d say that she saw him smirk. “Well he’d better stop unless he wants to be shoved off his stupid black board,” she muttered under her breath. 

Kaydel laughed and then went to follow Poe. Rey waived her right to the wave, so it was Kay’s turn once Poe caught his. It didn’t really matter though. Because Rey knew that Kaydel was likely to lose the wave to whatever First Order surfer chased after her.

The set was getting closer and from the corner of her eyes, she noticed Armitage Hux, First Order’s second best surfer, drop to his deck and paddle after Poe in an obvious challenge. 

It looked like it was going to be close, but Hux won and Poe had to bail in order to avoid being run over. It made Rey’s blood boil to see it. First Order had no respect for the lineup. They just threw themselves into the waves regardless of whose turn it was. 

It had been Poe’s wave, not Hux’s. But did Hux care about that?

Nope.

The members of First Order had absolutely no respect or common courtesy when it came to surfing. It was well known that one of their tenets as a team was to steal waves from others, disregarding how dangerous it was for the surfer they were snaking. It was what their team was best known for. They surfed as dirty as they could without getting disqualified. And it was damn difficult to get any member of that team disqualified. Rey was pretty certain that Snoke paid off the judges panels at all competitions First Order was involved in to look the other way unless the infraction was extremely obvious or caused other surfers serious harm. So with the combination of stealing the best waves in their heat and not getting penalized for doing so, and just generally being larger and stronger than the average surfer, the First Order had some of the highest ranking surfers in the World Surf League with Ben as current world champion. 

And the WSL didn’t do anything about the First Order’s dirty tricks because they brought a large proportion of the league’s revenue yearly. 

Rey’s disgust must have reflected on her face because it attracted unwanted attention. Ben Solo was close enough to hold a conversation now and she wanted nothing to do with him. Currently, he was watching her curiously in silence. 

Rey immediately looked away. “Leave me alone, Solo. I don’t want to deal with you today.”

He chuckled deeply and came closer instead. “Well that’s unfortunate. We’re going to be dealing a lot with each other now.” The deep baritone of his voice pounded in her ears and made her want to dive into the ocean to get away. “Didn’t you notice? We’re your new neighbors.” 

“You didn’t need to come over into our section. There’s plenty of good surf that way.” She pointed way off in the distance and gestured for him to be off on his way. 

Ben Solo laughed again. “Why paddle all the way out there when we could just come out this way and share with our new neighbors?”

Rey snorted. “Like you would know anything about sharing.”

Solo shrugged rather than respond and began to paddle off. 

For some reason, that incited Rey more than if he’d actually retorted something. And before she knew it, she was shouting after his retreating back.

“Piss off and go find somewhere else to surf, Solo!” 

He stopped and turned his board around. “That’s not very neighborly, Niima. I thought you were supposed to be the welcoming type? Being from Hawaii and all?”

“Like you know anything about being neighborly,” she snarled. “Every last one of you is rotten down to the core.”

Solo’s eyes widened briefly before they narrowed into a glare. It seemed like he was going to reply with some nasty retort, but Poe returned and placed his board in between the two of them, clearly aware tempers were rising..

“What’s going on here, guys?” he asked with his classic Dameron charm, though his eyes flashed with warning when they connected with Rey’s. 

“Nothing,” Solo gritted, eyes hard. “Just keep your team off our backs and we won’t have any problems.”

Rey laughed in disbelief. “Oh, keep  _ our _ team off of  _ your _ backs? Your teammate is the one who snaked on Poe’s wave less than five minutes ago. And you — ”

“Rey,” Poe warned. “I think it’s time we head in, guys. Lunch’ll be here any minute. Let’s go.” He began paddling away without waiting for Rey and curtly nodded one last time at Solo as he passed.

Rey held Solo’s stare for one angry moment and then realized she was doing exactly what Poe didn’t want. So she averted her eyes and swallowed heavily in shame, catching sight of Poe’s disappointment. The one thing he had asked her to do was to keep her temper and not allow Ben Solo to get to her.

And she’d failed at that spectacularly.

“It’s okay, Rey,” Kaydel said quietly by her side. “Solo was clearly trying to get to you.”

Rey shook her head. “And I fell for it anyway. Why does he always try to get to me?”

Kaydel just pursed her lips. “I’d think the reason is fairly obvious…” 

Rey glanced at Kaydel but the blonde refused to say anything more.

So Rey turned her attention to other things. Like Poe and his valid disappointment in her. It was decided: as soon as they made it to shore, she was going to apologize to the not-captain captain Dameron. 

And that was exactly what she did. 

“It’s fine, Rey,” Poe sighed heavily as he set his board down in the sand. “Just don’t let him get under your skin again, okay?”

She sat down next to him, “I’ll do my best. Pinky promise.” Rey stuck her pinky out to him and Poe rolled his eyes before laughing and locking her little finger with his.

“I uh, I chirped at Hux a bit after he knocked me out of my wave,” he confessed after a moment.

Rey turned and regarded her friend, amused. “So that’s why you forgave me so easily,” she laughed.

Poe smiled. “I guess we all need to work on it.”

“Not me,” Kay interjected from Poe’s other side. “I’m already perfect. Bazine Netal came for me and I totally owned her. Didn’t give her a thing.”

The three of them sat there for a few moments in silence, enjoying the sunlight and crosswinds breeze before they heard motion behind them. 

Rey turned to see Paige, Rose and Beaumont approaching, carrying several bags of food and a lightweight cotton beach blanket for them to crash on while they ate. Zorii was behind them, stretching and yawning as she made her way over.

All thoughts of First Order and Ben Solo were forgotten at the sight of those beautiful brown bags. The three newcomers sat them down and immediately started handing out plastic quart dishes filled with curry and compostable containers filled with rice and noodle dishes respectively. 

Rey was in the middle of pouring some curry into her rice when she noticed Poe eyeing her meal with chagrin. 

“Regretting your vanilla choice, Dameron?” she asked the dark haired surfer with a smirk.

Poe nodded sadly, regarding his Pineapple fried rice. “Yeah. But I couldn’t risk it. Taking one for the team.”

Rey looked down at her half full curry container and proffered it. “I’m clearly not going to finish all of this. Want some for your rice? I didn’t go too spicy today, so your ass’ll probably be fine.”

His chocolate brown eyes lit up and eagerly took Rey’s offering. Poe dumped a decent amount in, cheered by the addition. “Thanks Niima. I owe you a banana bread sundae for this.”

Rey chuckled and tucked into her food. “I’ll hold you to it.”

They stuffed themselves full and then relaxed on the beach, only going inside when the clouds came and started dumping the winter rains on them.

* * *

A few hours later, Rey awoke suddenly to something substantial launch on to her. She cursed and looked wildly around only to see a figure containing sparkling eyes and a megawatt smile squashing her torso and legs.

“Peanut! Wake up!”

She was still trapped in the fog of sleep, unsure of where she was or when. But the voice was very familiar to her. She blinked tiredly now that the alarm of waking up suddenly had faded. And then it hit her. 

Finn. Finn Storm was finally here! She hadn’t seen him in almost a year, which was criminally too long. 

Rey sat up and shoved him off of her, all the while grinning like a mad woman. “Finn!” she cried and tackled him. “You’re here! You bloody liar, you said you weren’t coming in till tomorrow!”

Finn’s laughter reverberated into her chest and he squeezed her tightly in one of his famous hugs. “I wanted you to be surprised. Poe was supposed to be surprised too, but he figured it out weeks ago.”

“The surprise was spoiled for me as well.” She smiled sheepishly as she looked up at her closest surfing friend. 

Finn rolled his eyes good-naturedly. “Kaydel.”

Rey laughed, “Yep, she spilled within five minutes.”

He groaned, “I really need to be careful about what that lady hears. I swear, she repeats everything without a thought.”

“Yeah, she definitely does.” Rey agreed. Kaydel had a very limited filter. But luckily it hadn’t caused any problems yet. She was just too innocent and just taking one look at her, you knew she never had any bad intentions. 

“So, we’re going to catch up, right?” she asked Finn as he stood and offered his hand to pull her off her bed.

Finn sent her a pointed look as if to say what do you think? “Of course we are, Peanut. But right now, we gotta hurry out to the van. I was literally on my way in when everyone starting rushing out of the house. They’re heading out for Sunset Beach and they sent me to wake you up.”

Rey checked the time. They were supposed to be at the beach now. Shit. Her alarm never went off. She quickly checked it and realized that she had never started the timer. Rushing, she grabbed a hair tie and a top to go over her suit. “What are you waiting for, then? Let’s go!” She raced past a laughing Finn and vaulted down the stairs to the back door, grabbed her board and then leapt into the open door.

“Oi! Boards on top!” Beaumont shouted from the front seat.

Rey grimaced, “Sorry Beau, I was just trying to hurry things along. It’ll go on top when we head back. Promise.”

Beaumont shook his head and mumbled under his breath but otherwise didn’t say anything else. Finn slid into the remaining open seat--it appeared someone packed his board for him--and they pulled out of their driveway.

Since Sunset Beach was less than a mile and a half away from their house, they arrived in under five minutes. Beaumont pulled off onto the shoulder and allowed the surfers to grab their gear before driving off to hunt for a parking spot.

While Rey was asleep, a few more Resistance surfers had arrived. Their group of four had expanded to eight, Finn included. Poe and Zorii were in the middle of an intense conversation while Finn and Kaydel happily chatted as they crossed the sidewalk onto the plush sand. The three other new arrivals were quietly observing the surf and making the occasional comment to each other. Snap Wexley, the oldest member of the team, had taken in the two newest members of Resistance, Kazuda Xiono and Trent Savay.

Rey followed behind, taking in the atmosphere, the buzzing of the observers excited to watch dozens of professional surfers warm up and test the waves before qualifiers took place. It was also an opportunity for the surfers to scope out their competition for the first time as well.

The members of Resistance stopped at the booth to check in and then made their way down to the shore.

There weren’t many other surfers out at the moment. Some would come later and some had already come and gone. The conditions looked decent, perhaps a little deteriorated from earlier, but still surfable. Practice was scheduled for about two hours and from there, they would head back to the house and eat dinner. Which was something Rey was especially looking forward to.

Rose and Paige were making their grandmother’s famous spaghetti bolognese for dinner and Rey had never had it before, which had bummed her to no end. But the Ticos only made it for special occasions as it apparently took all day to make. Something about stewing the flavors together to develop proper flavor?

The funniest thing was the odd looks the Ticos got whenever they mentioned their grandmother’s famous recipe. Why would an old Korean woman be famous for an Italian dish? Rey had also wondered about it many times before Rose told her that back in the day, her grandmother had dated an Italian American soldier posted on Oahu during the Cold War and he passed on his family’s recipe. Things obviously didn’t work out for them, but Rose’s grandmother got a pretty decent deal out of it, what with the recipe and all.

“You ready to catch some waves, Peanut?”

Kaydel and Finn stepped up next to Rey, the waves washing warm water over their toes. “Definitely. Let’s do this.”

The three of them ran out and jumped onto their boards, paddling out past the breaking waves along the shore to the larger sets forming in the distance. Poe and Zorii weren’t far ahead of them and they caught up easily. The others entered just behind, throwing up froth as their arms paddled and pulled them through the water.

They finally reached their section and the eight of them convened in a semi-circle, awaiting marching orders from their infamous not-captain, captain. 

“Alright everyone, we’re gonna keep this simple. Let’s break up into teams of four and then organize right of way from there. Finn, Rey, Zorii, you’re with me. Snap, Kaydel and rookies, you guys head south a couple hundred yards at the next break.”

Rey had to hide a smirk. It paid to be friends with Poe. She never had to be in the group that had to paddle extra to get to their section. Snap and Kaydel groaned but led the new guys away and the new, smaller group reconvened. 

“Finn, since you haven’t had a chance to surf yet, you find the break and get the first wave. Zorii, you missed out on an earlier session, so you’re next. Then it’ll be me, then Rey.”

It was only fair that Rey was last. Poe had put himself in last position earlier and Rey had been first. So she paddled to her position and settled in, ready to watch the others go ahead of her. 

Finn caught his second wave and looked good, all things considered. The wave was a bit choppy due to the cross shore wind, but he managed it well and after a few cutbacks and a nice carve, pulled out the back of the wave and sank his board into the water, pumping his fist in excitement. 

A decent set came in and Zorii and Poe caught their waves quickly. Rey watched them closely, checking their form and their speed. And then she noticed the telltale signs that another wave was approaching. It was her turn.

She dropped to the deck and hurried forward, making it to the crest just in time to drop in. This time, she tried to ride high on the wave for a bit so that she could drop down into the pocket and gain enough speed to attempt a kickflip off the top or something else equally awesome. She managed a 360 on the face of the wave, but her momentum went out before she could pull the kickflip off, so she eased out of the wave and sank down, breathing hard. Overall it wasn’t a terrible ride. She was happy with it. 

Rey allowed herself to catch her breath before she paddled back to the end of the lineup, which was longer than before. It looked like a few other surfers from other teams, Roxy and Hurley, according to their gear, had joined them while she was in her wave. She greeted them and settled up into the line, content to watch the others and enjoy the ebb and flow of the ocean. 

The wave quality might not have been amazing, but the sets were consistent, so the line moved quickly. Rey rotated through several more times before she checked the time and realized that she’d been there for almost two hours. The sun was getting close to the horizon, but there was at least an hour before it set. 

She sighed, feeling totally content. Aside from one hiccup, today had been perfect. She’d caught up a bit with Finn, with promises to talk more later and had gotten to know the three surfers that had joined them. 

Idly, she kicked her feet around in the water below and looked toward the beach, trying to spot Beaumont or an official. She wondered when they would flag the group down to end the session. Rey had almost finished the scan when she caught sight of a distinctive black board and it’s equally distinctive rider and felt her stomach sink.

Ben Solo and his team were marching down the beach to the surf and Rey was almost positive that they were going to come straight for her group just so they could harass them some more. As if they hadn’t done that enough already. She inhaled deeply to center herself and remembered to not take any bait he or the other First Order members might bother her with.

She eyed the group warily, waiting for them to make their way over to their zone but they paused. Rey leaned forward squinting to get a better look at what was going on. From her vantage, it appeared that Solo and Hux weren’t agreeing with where to go. The massive dark haired surfer was gesturing away from her section pointing for them to go somewhere else while the slick red head was adamantly gesturing at their zone. 

It struck her as odd, seeing Ben Solo not seeking out an opportunity to harass her team, but it didn’t last long. With an exaggerated sigh even Rey could see from a distance, he gave in and waved for Hux to proceed. Rey grit her teeth together and mentally prepared herself for the incoming drama.

Finn noticed the group nearly as quickly as she had. His face went hard in a dark scowl as he watched them approaching. Rey knew his hackles were rising. He hated the First Order. Had good reason to hate them.

Before Finn joined Resistance thanks to Poe’s recruiting a few years back, he was a part of FO’s up and coming team. He’d been miserable with them and their politics and leaving the team left a particularly bad taste in his mouth. Something about a massive falling out between him, Hux and Solo. Finn never really opened up about it. But ever since, he’d openly shared his dislike of his former team and wasn’t shy about showing First Order surfers his sentiment either. 

That had caused even more problems that exacerbated everything between the three ex-teammates. 

“Those bastards better not be heading this way,” he growled at Rey. 

Rey chewed on her lips, “You know that’s exactly what they’re doing, Finn. They always do this.” She kept her eyes on Solo specifically, glad that so far he’d kept his gaze focused on the point just beyond his board and not any higher so that he didn’t notice her stare. What was he getting at? Why did he get such a kick out of being an asshole to her team? To her? Did he really hate his mother and her legacy so much that he always had to take it out on her surf team? 

_ Calm, Rey,  _ she told herself firmly. She was determined to not let First Order get to her this time, no matter how much they — and more specifically, Ben Solo — egged her on. Poe was too far away to pass on his message of non-reaction to Finn, so Rey relayed it to him instead.

“We had a run-in with them early at Pipeline,” she explained. “Poe asked us on Leia’s behalf to not engage with them. It’s a lot to ask, and I’ve already failed, but I think they’re right. We can’t let them get to us. It’s probably why they always target our zones. They know that their tactics mess with our heads so much that they almost always perform better than we do.”

There was a good reason aside from personal rivalries and dramas for First Order to come after Resistance. Their philosophies were essentially polar opposites. The First Order team was all about striking first, taking the best waves from other surfers and showing no mercy. They were so ruthless in competition that it was no surprise that their surfers were ranked among the best in the world despite their unsportsmanlike conduct. 

Resistance, on the other hand, had a philosophy that was based on the orderly practice of establishing proper lineups on the waves to ensure that everyone got their fair shot at performing well. They were trained to respect a surfer’s right of way. Intentional snaking was seriously penalized. Because they were more passive, they sometimes missed out on opportunities that could launch individual surfers to the very top, even though overall, the team always performed well and was highly ranked. And because of the way the surf team conducted themselves in competition, Resistance was one of the most highly respected and highly sought teams in the league. 

“We need to stop giving them fuel and just do our jobs by surfing the best we can,   
she said with a sigh. 

Finn regarded her. “You don’t agree with that.”

No, she really didn’t. In fact, she’d love nothing more than to watch a shark to eat their whole team, but she did want to do what Leia wanted. She said nothing for a moment, but Finn’s knowing look got to her. 

“No,” she agreed reluctantly. “I don’t. But I  _ do  _ think that Poe and Leia are right. If we keep taking their bait, we’re never gonna get the edge over them. And what if one of us really pissed off Hux or Solo? You know for a fact that they can cause serious damage.”

Finn looked away, a distant anger crossing his face once more. “Fine,” he relented eventually. “I’ll play nice.”

Rey relaxed slightly. He was as eager for a fight as she was, but he was showing better restraint than she had earlier today. She wouldn’t have to worry about him.

The First Order teammates had settled in front of the lineup, which caused a grumble among their group. The lineup moved closer to the rival team in hopes to prevent snaking. 

It was Zorii’s wave but Gwyneth Phasma started charging the wave in the hopes of cutting the older surfer off before she could get the drop on her wave. 

Zorii stood no chance. The woman was all lean muscle but it was no match for Phasma’s six foot three frame. Phasma stole the wave like it was nothing and Zorii was left in the dust, hitting the water in frustration.

She was too winded by the mad dash to the wave to attempt another charge, so she gave right of way to Poe.

Poe didn’t fare any better. Solo beat him so soundly it looked easy. Poe Dameron pushed himself up and panted, trying to catch his breath before turning to paddle behind the lineup. 

The Roxy surfer managed to beat Bazine Netal and had a good ride, but the next surfer failed to beat Dopheld Mitaka. 

It was Rey’s turn next and she was determined to get to her wave before Armitage Hux stole it from her.

She pushed herself harder than she had in a long time, completely focused on pulling the water, one hand and then the other. It almost surprised her when she realized that she’d gotten to the wave first. She whooped with excitement and did a little fist pump in celebration.

And then she was in the wave, feet disconnected from the deck of her board and sucked into the heaving white water. She hadn’t realized it was such a grinder when she was approaching, but now she realized with building panic that the wave was massive. 

Rey was being sucked down and tossed about like a rag doll by the unrelenting suction of the wave. At one point her shoulder connected with the reef, sending a sharp pain through the area but she was quickly disoriented after that, tumbling around so rapidly that she lost all sense of direction. 

Her head spun and Rey belatedly realized that she shouldn’t have let her breath training fall to the wayside during her time in California. The waves there rarely ever matched the size or power of the North Shore, especially the massive winter waves, so she’d just sort of forgotten about it. But now?

Now her lungs burned for air. The ankle strap blessedly tugged her ever so slightly and Rey finally knew where up was. Her legs also burned as she kicked toward the surface. 

There was a rumble to the right and Rey froze. Panic pierced her. Another wave, closer than it should have been, was approaching quickly. 

A two wave hold down.

And Rey was in the exact spot where she would be rushed away again. Desperately, Rey tried to drop down low enough to miss the powerful crush of water but she wasn’t quick enough.

She was swept away again, tumbled and disoriented yet again. Only this time, black spots began forming across her vision and her lungs screamed for air. Rey was still being dragged by the wave when she started fearing that she wouldn’t remain conscious long enough to break the surface. 

Her vision was growing darker, ears ringing when she felt something solid and warm crash into her. Rey’s head was spinning so heavily due to the rapid direction changes and the lack of oxygen that she couldn’t quite grasp what was going on. Was she moving upward?

She gasped as her head broke the surface. Cool, soothing air filled her chest, bringing sweet relief from the pain of oxygen starvation. Immediately, her poor lungs were seized with a coughing attack.

“Are you alright?” a deep, worried voice sounded in her ear, alerting her to the presence of the person who’d just saved her life. 

Rey nodded through her coughing fit and felt herself being lifted up onto her board, which had somehow remained attached to her ankle through two massive waves.

_ Probably how they found me _ , she thought dizzily. She rolled onto her stomach in a heap, absolutely exhausted and dropped her head to her board, letting it rest there. Rey kept her head as still as possible as she waited for her inner ear to calm down enough to allow her to look up without puking. 

“Talk to me, Niima,” the voice called from her side. Whoever he was, he sounded worried. She blamed the oxygen starved fog in her brain for being unable to identify the voice. It was familiar — so she definitely knew this person. But she couldn’t be bothered to look just yet. Not with how woozy she was feeling. 

Rey was still greedily breathing in the sweet, sweet air, so rather than verbally respond, she threw a thumbs up next to her ear and hoped that he was looking. 

Apparently, he didn’t like her response.

“Niima!” the man barked again.

Jeeze, he was pushy. Couldn’t he see that she was clearly breathing? She’d just nearly drowned, so obviously she just wanted to breathe in silence. She wasn’t exactly in the mood to answer questions. She just wanted to focus on inhaling and exhaling. Once she caught her breath, she’d be sure to thank her savior.

“I’m fine.” she snapped irately. “I’m alive, okay? I just want to breathe in peace, alright? Christ, man!”

The man didn’t also didn’t seem to appreciate her attitude. “Oh I’m sorry, I was just trying to make sure you were still conscious after, you know,  _ almost drowning _ .”

What an ass! Why couldn’t he just let her breathe in peace for a second? Anger began pooling within and she finally decided to look back and throw a nasty look at her not-so-kindly rescuer.

And then she froze. 

Ben Solo stared back at her with his nearly black hair plastered to his forehead and his dark, wild eyes glaring, breath puffing from full lips in exertion. Then she noticed that he had his hand on her mid back, keeping her stabilized on the board and she flinched hard. He withdrew his hand as though it was burning. 

Funny, the skin he’d been touching felt like it was on fire too. 

“Of all people who could have pulled me out, it had to be  _ you _ ?” Rey asked incredulously. She honestly probably would have preferred that the ocean take her, though that might be a little dramatic.

Ben Solo’s eyes went wide, a hint of hurt reflecting in them. But then his expression went hard like flint. “Sorry I decided to save your life, Niima. Next time, I’ll let one of your incompetent teammates figure it out. Instead of being tortured by being rescued by the likes of me, you’ll just be in a body bag instead. Because to you, that’s clearly the more favorable outcome.” 

Rey inhaled sharply at his barbed words. Sarcasm dripped from them like poison and stung her more deeply than she would ever admit. He’d rather let her die than help? A part of her knew that she was willfully misunderstanding, but she ignored that part. Rey swallowed heavily and looked away. Ben resumed propelling them to shore and was soon close enough to reach the sand with his feet. 

She slowly sat up as the water dipped below his hips and he stopped, allowing her to hop off the board and walk the rest of the way.

Or that was what she intended to do — instead, she wobbled, legs still weak from the struggle of fighting against the massive winter waves and started dropping.

Strong arms hooked underneath her armpits and stopped her from falling. She tensed and Ben’s annoyed voice sounded over her shoulder. “Jeeze, Niima, I’m just trying to keep you from drowning all over again, don’t worry.”

Rey held her tongue and allowed him to help her onto shore. He released her just above the waterline and then surprisingly, did not stalk away like she’d been expecting. Instead, he crouched down in front of her, lips tense and eyes darkened with some emotion Rey couldn’t name.

He looked like he wanted to be anywhere else but he stayed and dutifully checked over her. His eyes settled on her shoulder and winced. Rey looked down and noticed a nice little reef rash across the top. It wasn’t too bad, she wasn’t really bleeding at least. But her shoulder stung sharply and it was going to burn like hell until she could get it cleaned properly. 

“You’re hurt,” he said, the anger from their previous clash gone and replaced with something else. Care? Concern? Either way, her traitorous heart stuttered at the way he said it. 

Rey met his eyes and held them with hers, heart racing. She nodded and found that she oddly wanted to put that concern to ease. “I’ve had worse,” she replied softly.

Solo chewed on his lips, as if he was deciding if he should say what was on his mind, but before he could, Finn rushed up shouting Rey’s name. 

Finn kneeled next to the towering man and shoved him out of the way slightly. Solo glowered at the newcomer but didn’t react otherwise. 

“I’ve got her, Solo,” Finn said dismissively. “You can go now. Rey is safe with me. ”

Ben scoffed and didn’t move. “Didn’t seem like she was safe with you while she was being sucked under that current.”

Finn stood in a whirl and snarled at Ben, who calmly regarded the shorter man from below as though he were no threat to him. “Yeah well she wouldn’t have been sucked under if your man hadn’t shoved her off her board on  _ her _ wave! Don’t pretend like you actually helped her because you care. You were only trying to cover your teammate’s ass!”

Rey breathed in sharply, remembering suddenly why she’d been drowning in the first place. Hux had approached her from behind and pushed her off her board. She’d almost died because a selfish jackass had clearly lost his temper at being beaten out of a wave that wasn’t even his in the first place and took it out on her. A First Order surfer. One of Ben Solo’s teammates. Everything went icy. 

Suddenly, she couldn’t bear to be in Ben Solo’s presence right now, much less even look at him. He might not have been the one to shove her off her board, but he might as well have. He represented everything that was wrong with the First Order even if he’d been the one to dive down and find her.

“I’m fine, Solo.” she reiterated what Finn said coldly, feeling hollow disgust at the sight of him. “Finn can take care of me. You can go now.”

Ben Solo stood, clenching his jaw tightly and stepped back. Then he turned and stalked away. Rey watched him go for a moment, confused at the whiplash of emotions she’d just experienced because of him and then shook her head. 

Finn was over her immediately, checking her for wounds or other signs of ailments. “Holy shit Rey, are you alright? I thought you were gone. I was freaking out. You didn’t take in any water, right?”

Rey swallowed and promptly winced in pain. Her throat was raw from the coughing and her shoulder was pulsing with a steady burn, but she was fine. “I didn’t aspirate anything. I’ll be okay, Finn. Promise. Solo got to me just in the knick of time.” Her hand went to her throat with a grimace. “I could use some water though, if you can find me some?”

Finn nodded quickly, “Yeah, yeah of course. Just hang tight here. Don’t move.” He dashed off in search of a water bottle and Rey closed her eyes, in shock over the last ten minutes. 

Bloody hell, she’d almost just died. 

If Ben Solo hadn’t jumped in to find her when he did, she probably would have passed out and aspirated water, body sucked out with the current and battered against the reefs. That thought alone set her trembling, a creeping fear establishing itself into the depths of her soul. She had forgotten just how dangerous the ocean could be on the North Shore in winter. Forgotten how easily Mother Ocean claimed the lives of those who dared challenge her. 

But the anger didn’t leave her. This happened because of First Order and their stupid, aggresive philosophy. This happened because Hux lost it over the fact that she’d prevented him from interloping. 

She wasn’t going to let this go. If she hated First Order before, it seemed mild compared to how she felt now. They were dangerous and they needed to be taken down.

A loud commotion up ahead stopped her from continuing that line of thought. Rey looked up and spotted a group of people about ten yards away. Two of them were shouting at each other.

She stood up and began walking toward the group. 

“You could have killed her, you son of a bitch!” Poe was screaming at Armitage Hux, who looked as cool as her friend looked crazed. 

“Maybe she should have pulled out of the wave then,” he sneered back. 

Poe lunged forward but was held back by Snap and Kazuda. “It was her wave! You tried to snake it but she beat you to it!”

Hux stepped forward, chest puffed, “She should know better. She knew what she was getting into.” 

Poe reared back and tore from the men holding him back. “I’m going to kick your ass you piece of — ”

Ben Solo jumped in between the two men about to go to blows. “Both of you need to back UP!”

Kazuda grabbed Poe again and Phasma put a firm hand on Hux’s shoulder. 

Poe laughed, the sound strangled and bitter. “Of course you’re defending that slimeball. I shouldn’t be surprised.”

Solo’s eyes narrowed. “I’m not defending anyone. But you two are seconds away from getting arrested. Or did you not see the cops hanging around the beach?”

Rey turned and noticed the police vehicle stopped on the shoulder, talking with some WSL officials. They were probably around for a routine check, but that wouldn’t stop them from intervening and throwing Poe in jail for throwing punches, no matter how noble the cause. 

“You need to back off and let me deal with my own, Dameron.”

“Oh really? And what’s that entail, Solo? A slap on the wrist for almost killing another surfer? That action should result in expulsion from the league.” Poe shook his head looking absolutely disgusted. “But who am I kidding? I should know better. Nothing happened when you pulled that same shit two years ago. Why would it be any different now?”

Ben’s eyes flashed in a fury but didn’t react aside from that. Poe laughed humorlessly and walked away, beckoning the Resistance surfers to leave with him. 

Rey felt something cool press against her arm and she turned. Finn had joined her at some point and had seen what happened. His face was tight at the mention of what happened with Ben Solo during a tournament a few years ago.

She took the drink and nudged him in the shoulder, thanking him with a smile. 

“I think I want to head back to the house,” she said in an attempt to distract him. “What do you think the chances are that Beaumont’ll take us home now?”

Finn slung his arm around her good shoulder and smiled down at her. “After your afternoon, I’m sure he’s already got the van going.”

She huffed a little laugh and bent down to pick up her board as they passed the spot she’d been deposited on. “Oh good. I didn’t realize how hungry you could get after almost drowning.”

She paused as Finn stiffened a bit. He watched her for a second before his easy smile returned. “Yep, makes you hungrier than hell.” 

They continued up the slope to where the other team members were waiting. “Hey, what’s for dinner anyway? I smelled something amazing when I went in to drop my stuff and wake you but didn’t ask Rose.”

“Some island famous spaghetti bolognese.” 

“Excellent.”

Rey turned back for a second to take in the beach one last time. She spotted the FO group basically where Poe had left them. Hux and Solo were at each other’s throats, which really surprised her. She thought they would have gone back to work, business as usual. 

So the fact that he was currently yelling at the smarmy, red-headed git was impressive. It made her almost want to reconsider her very firm stance on the nature of Ben Solo. 

_ Almost. _

Solo looked up abruptly, as if he knew that she was watching him.

Rey turned her head and continued on her way, heart beating slightly faster than it should have been.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Surfing Terminology:
> 
> Snaking/Cutting off: the action of catching a wave in front of a surfer who was going for said wave and was closer to it; stealing a wave—also known as snaking
> 
> Cutback: a surf move done sharply in the shoulder or the wave or on its flats to get back on the surf line
> 
> Grinder: a powerful wave
> 
> Carve: a maneuver that is a sharp turn on the face of the wave
> 
> Furthest out: the surfer that is furthest out or that has been waiting longest aka has right of way when a wave comes
> 
> Two Wave Hold Down: getting held under the water because of two consecutive waves preventing one from surfacing
> 
> \---
> 
> Disclaimer Repeated: If you are a surfer and you see that I am getting things totally wrong, I apologize because I don't surf and I've been watching videos and reading up on stuff instead.
> 
> If you are enjoying this story, please drop a comment below!


	3. Encounters at Foodland

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter Three!
> 
> I think I'm going to post every Wednesday, so keep your eyes out then! 
> 
> I hope you enjoy!

**CHAPTER THREE: Encounters at Foodland**

November 1st

As expected, the Tico’s spaghetti bolognese had been incredible. It was the best she’d ever had and she would proudly die on that hill with a bowl full of the dish in question. She had so many servings that she was shocked it didn’t come back up after she finally left the table. After that, she settled onto one of the comfy couches in the common area and settled against Finn in a food coma. 

She spent a good two hours blankly watching whatever action movie he selected before being dragged upstairs by Rose and Kaydel. 

Now, they were in the middle of convincing her to join them in town with everyone else.

“You almost  _ died _ today, Rey! You need to get on the dance floor and just get it all out! All the stress, all the anger! Just dance it out,” Kaydel announced for the fifth time, kneeling in front of the mirror on her door as she applied a dark plum lipstick to her lips.

Rose nodded eagerly from Rey’s side. She was braiding sections of Rey’s hair into a half crown. Her hair and makeup were complete, but she was still in her day clothes. “Okay I wasn’t even there and I totally agree with Kay. The worst thing you can do is to stay here all by yourself after something like that.”

The thing was though, Rey didn’t think that was true. She was actually pretty sure that she would be fine. In fact, being on a crowded dance floor and getting pestered by various dude-bros after today was probably the last thing she wanted to do.

Besides, couldn’t they see how tired she was? She just wanted to get some snacks from the Foodland down the road and then snuggle up under one of the silky blankets on the biggest couch and fall asleep watching something stupid on TV, like Letterkenny or Parks and Rec. Just a nice, feel-good show. She needed a good dose of Ronald Ulysses Swanson in her life right about now.

“I really appreciate it, but I think I’m gonna just stay in tonight. I’m exhausted.” Their faces fell, so she quickly added, “Next time you want to go to Waikiki, I am coming!”

Rose nodded, looking bolstered. “As long as you promise. And as long as you help me pick out my outfit!” Then she doubled down on braiding Rey’s hair. 

A few moments later, Rey was examining her hair from behind Kaydel. It was a soft half crown braid that left wisps of hair kissing her cheekbones. The natural wave of her shoulder length hair complemented the braid and Rey felt angelic. She turned to her best friend who was smiling with pride. “Thanks Rosie, I love it.”

“Good.” Rose smiled widely. “Now come with me to the back house and help me pick something to wear.” She grabbed Rey’s hand and dragged her out of Kaydel’s room.

* * *

Rey watched the group drive away about a half hour later and immediately set to get her things for a grocery trip. She grabbed her sandals and purse and set out, pulling a lightweight sweater over her head and walked out into the crisp night air.

The scent of plumeria filled her nose, awakening her senses and she inhaled deeply, wanting to memorize the scent forever.

Foodland was barely over a mile away, so she decided to walk there. Sure it was dark, but she trusted the area well enough and felt safe. She strode down the street and pointedly ignored the ugly house next to Resistance House as she passed.

The walk did her wonders. 

The air was ten degrees cooler than it had been a few hours ago and combined with the breeze, felt wonderful on her sunburned face. Very few cars were driving along the Kamehameha Highway right now, even though it was barely after eight on a Monday night. Everything was quiet. The crashing of the waves and the shushing of the breeze created a calming soundtrack and lulled all tension away, so she let her mind drift. 

Before she knew it, Rey was in the parking lot of the grocery store, the green sign welcoming her into a place she’d been to hundreds of times as she grew up.

The glass doors slid open for her, and the distinctly familiar scent of Foodland grocery store replaced the scent of the plumeria outside. 

She grabbed a cart and made her way to the produce section, picking up a bunch of apple-bananas as soon as she saw a group that was slightly green tinged yellow, just the way she liked them. She looked around some more and grabbed a few more fruits to satisfy the need to be healthy.

With that, she started her usual routine of winding through every aisle until she found what she wanted. She started down the aisle with all the booze and decided that if all of her friends were going to get wasted in Waikiki, the least she could do was drink a bottle of wine while watching some Parks and Rec. 

Rey settled in front of the reds and looked around for a moment. She spotted a good looking cabernet sauvignon and then noticed a merlot she liked to have on occasion. Her teeth nibbled on her bottom lip as she debated and after a moment, picked the merlot. 

With the bottle tucked in, she moved on to the chips aisle and grabbed a bag of maui sweet onion potato chips. It had been so long since she had them that she nearly opened the bag right then. But she resisted and moved on. At the back of the store, she spotted a small section dedicated to “fancy” cheeses in the cooler wall, so she decided to take a look. Rey wasn’t expecting much as she started to dig through the wrapped wedges, but then she struck gold. 

Her eyes went wide and she picked up a wedge of Bellavitano, nearly squealing in delight as she picked it up. If this wasn’t a sign from above that she was loved, she didn’t know what signs were. Then she looked down, eyes wide for something else equally amazing, like a log of goat cheese rolled in dried blueberries or a block of proper English cheddar. Her luck didn’t go quite so far, but the Bellevitano was more than she could have ever hoped to find in a Hawaiian grocery store on the North Shore. So she was, quite frankly, ecstatic. 

Rey hummed happily as she strode away to find the aisle that held crackers, grabbing a box of Cap'n Crunch on the way, because who didn’t love eating cereal while they watched TV late at night?

Then she spotted boxes of classic Gushers and who didn’t love those? So she dropped a box in her cart and continued on her way. She grabbed a few more things along the way, like chocolate milk, some nice almond milk for the cereal and since the store was already selling Christmas stuff in November, a box of chocolate mint Lindor truffles.

In the crackers and cookies aisle, she grabbed a box of whole wheat crackers, because health was important folks, and then turned to face the wall of cookies.

What did she want? That was the real question. Did she want to go classic with a thing of Oreos or did she want to go the Pepperidge Farm route? She was always down to eat a package of Milanos. Then she spotted boxes of Tate’s cookies and she was a sucker for the buttery crispiness that was so on brand with them. 

She finally settled on something when she heard her name from down the aisle. Rey looked up and almost dropped the Tate’s cookie package in surprise. 

Coming down her aisle from the cooler wall side of the store was none other than Ben Solo. 

He looked absolutely ridiculous carrying one of the small baskets, standing at six foot three inches and as broad as a damn refrigerator in the shoulders. The sight was nearly comical and for a brief second as she tried not to laugh at him, Rey wondered why he wasn’t using a cart like any normal person would.

Rey watched as he looked away as though embarrassed for calling out her name, but he continued walking over anyway. She absently dropped the box of cookies into her cart without looking at where it landed and kept wary eyes on the approaching man.

Solo stopped a good five feet away from her and appeared to be unsure of what to do next. He just watched her with those damn earnest eyes. The same ones from the beach from before Finn’s interruption. Dark eyes that had done something funny with her insides as she stared into them, just moments after almost drowning.

Rey worked her jaw silently, deciding how civil she needed to be. 

She didn’t  _ have  _ to be civil, right? It was Ben Solo for crying out loud. He may have saved her life today, but she didn’t have to treat him any differently now, right?  _ Right? _

Blast it. 

She had to say something that resembled a greeting… 

“Solo,” Rey nodded magnanimously before turning to push her cart away and escape any further engagement with a man she basically considered an enemy..

She hadn’t noticed it before, but her cart was suffering from a squeaky wheel and it seemed ten times louder as she moved away from the First Order surfer. She cringed at the spectacle it was making.

Good grief!

It wasn’t as if she needed something else to make this more uncomfortable than it already was.

And how was she supposed to react anyway? Did he actually expect her to stay and chat with him? After what happened today?

She didn’t want anything to do with him or his team. If she had her absolute way, they would be banned from the league and then she wouldn’t have to see any of them again.

“Rey, wait!”

Solo calling for her by first name set her heart rate spiking and gave her pause long enough for him to make it to her side. She pursed her lips to hide how the way he said her name affected her  _ and  _ to show her annoyance but waited for him to say what he clearly wanted to say to her. 

The man appeared so shocked that she stopped for him that he stared soundlessly at her for a moment before exhaling a shuddering breath and finally spoke. “Look, Rey, I’m sorry about what happened today. Truly. I called Snoke and reported what Hux did to you as soon as I got back to my house.”

She blinked. He called his manager? To report Hux? For her? Rey’s brain couldn’t compute that. She didn’t know what to do with the information.

So Rey laughed once bitterly, falling back on old hostilities so that she wouldn’t have to acknowledge that Ben Solo was reporting one of his own. “Oh and I suppose your boss did something about Hux then?” She knew the answer but she allowed him to give it anyway. 

Solo’s hand went up to his perfectly coiffed hair and mussed it, his expression embarrassed. “Well...no.” he admitted awkwardly. Rey scoffed and began walking away again but Ben stopped her. He didn’t know how lucky he was that she didn’t run his foot over with her cart. If he stopped her again, she would run it over twice for good measure. 

“He yelled at me for almost an hour for wasting his time. But!” he let go of her cart, foolishly hopeful she wouldn’t walk away again.“I just wanted you to know that  _ I _ think Hux should have been punished and that I did what I could to bring about consequences.”

Rey blinked over Ben’s surprising admission, experiencing several odd emotions over it. She had never seen this earnest side of Ben Solo before and now she was experiencing it not once, but twice. But she shook it away, determined to hold to her hatred of all things First Order, even if one of her objects of hatred  _ was  _ being a decent person to her. 

“It doesn’t matter what you think, Solo. Because at the end of the day, I almost died due to your team’s surf philosophy and one of your teammate’s temper tantrums.”

Ben’s face dropped, and he swallowed tightly as frustration took over. His irate expression made Rey feel more at ease with the whole situation. At least she knew how to deal with an angry Solo. 

The apologetic version had her completely off-kilter and she didn’t like it even a little bit.

“And what else could I have done? The owner of my team didn’t care! I tried. And I wanted you to know that I’m sorry it happened, alright? I’m sorry, Rey. Truly.” 

He didn’t seem too sorry anymore though, she noted as she examined his face. He just seemed angry now.

Rey stepped forward, cart forgotten for the moment. “There are plenty of things you could have done, Solo,” she hissed. 

“Like what?”

“Oh, I don’t know,” she gestured wildly, feeling equal parts annoyed, exasperated and angry. She really didn’t want to be having this conversation with him of all people…

“You could have reported Hux to the officials hosting the practice. Could have gone above Snoke and reported Hux’s actions to the WSL, or issued a formal complaint. You could have snapped his board in half!” She gestured up at Solo’s face, “Could have punched his smug face — that would have been lovely to see.”

Ben shook his head, rejecting it all. “You know that wouldn’t have done anything. Snoke is the most powerful member of the league. He’s got everyone in his pocket. Anything reported on Hux would have been tossed into the garbage and laughed off.”

The fact that Ben was openly acknowledging the blatant corruption in the World Surf League made her sick to her stomach. She’d lived in vain denial, hoping it wasn’t true, that it was just a rumor started by surfers who were tired of being beaten by the First Order. 

But, the star of their team just confirmed it all to her.

How the hell were things ever going to be fair when they were dealing with so much corruption? How would First Order ever face justice if it was paying every official and judge off?

Rey closed her eyes, disgusted with the revelation. Disgusted with Ben for being a part of it  — from benefiting from it.

Then Rey thought of his parents, Leia and Han, and her disgust and frustration boiled to the surface, erupting all at once. 

“Or I know!” she burst, arms posed wide as if suggesting, “Maybe you could have just  _ not _ joined First Order in the first place and not been a part of that skeevy organization at all! Would have spared a lot of heartbreak for  _ them _ .” she finished softly, voice bitter. 

Rey shoved her cart roughly and resumed her march away from him. She really didn’t want to talk to him and it seemed like he was going to let her go this time. 

But then she heard his loud feet pounding on the linoleum. 

“You don’t know anything about what happened between me and my parents. Or Resistance for that matter,” he growled, dark eyes flashing. 

Rey glanced at him sharply, refusing to believe that. She didn’t know? She knew it all. From what Luke and her friends had told her down to the way Leia’s whole body seemed to wilt whenever Ben was brought up. “I know everything I need to know about you,” she harshly retorted as she turned to go again.

Ben stopped, and in spite of herself Rey stopped to look back at him, curiosity getting the best of her. He looked hurt and angry, his eyes filled with an unreleased tempest of emotions she couldn’t hope to describe. 

“You do?” he asked her, his voice bitingly sarcastic. “Ah,” he chuckled humorlessly without waiting for Rey’s response, eyes glittering. “You think you do, but you don’t know anything.”

She stared at him, feeling bitter anger. How dare he challenge her knowledge on the topic? Clearly he didn’t know how much she was aware of. “I know you tore your family apart and broke your mother’s heart when you signed with First Order. What else is there to know?”

Ben Solo crossed his arms, basket still hanging from one and leant against the shelf. “There’s plenty to know. But you seem to have made your mind up about me, so why should I bother filling you in on the details?”

Rey worked her jaw fiercely. She didn’t care to know his side of things. Especially not when they were likely to be twisted. “You’re right, I have. So don’t bother.”

She started walking away when Solo stopped her,  _ yet again. _ This time, only with his voice. 

“You never said thank you, you know,” he called from behind. “For saving your life?” 

Rey stopped cold.

As if she could ever forget it. Even if she spent lifetimes existing after this, she doubted she would forget Ben Solo holding her tight to him as he pushed off the ocean floor and propelled them to the surface as quickly as he could. Or the sensation of his warm, rough hand keeping her steady on the board as he brought her back to shore safely. A shiver ran down her spine and she felt her face heat up.

As angry as him calling her out over it made her, he was right. She hadn’t thanked him for saving her life today. And that was something he definitely deserved. 

Rey closed her eyes, exhaling slowly, trying to find some hidden reservoir of patience and tranquility that she almost certainly didn’t have. She needed to be rid of these conflicting emotions and she needed to compose herself enough to face him. So she whirled slowly once she felt collected enough and opened her eyes, looking at him dead on. He was still leaning against the shelf, arms crossed, looking incredible in his tight, black shirt. A blush threatened to bloom again and she swiftly berated herself for noticing such a thing.

She inhaled and exhaled once more, willing the words to come. “Thank you,” she finally said, though a little stiffly, “for pulling me out and saving my life.”

And that smug bastard just smirked at her. “See? That wasn’t so hard, was it?”

And that was where Rey lost it. 

She abandoned her cart and stalked toward him, finger jabbing toward his chest. “You’re an unbelievably patronizing bastard. You know that, right? You just stand there demanding my thanks like you deserve it for one selfless act? You’ve done nothing but harass me and my team ever since I joined the league. You act all smug and snide, what with your stupid hair and your emo clothing and your stupid black surf board.” She squeezed her eyes shut, shaking her head violently. 

“Who does that, by the way?” She gestured at his all black outfit and shook her head, “Seriously, who goes around dressing like a bloody vampire? And who goes around and decides, you know what? I want a ton of black surfboards. Just to complete my goth look. It’s going to look brilliant!” She laughed, though it was void of humor. “Gah, I can’t stand you!”

Ben Solo stared at her, eyes wide and then  _ he _ laughed. 

Rey blinked, taken aback at the unexpected reaction.

“I’m sorry,” he apologized through the laughter. “Is that the best you can do? Insulting my appearance and my color choices?” His shoulders shook as he dissolved into laughter again. “Niima, sometimes you crack me up.”

He wiped his face, a smile still present even as he delivered his next insult. “I guess I shouldn’t have expected more from Resistance’s perfect little golden girl.”

Rey glared at Ben Solo and his ridiculous height. “What is that supposed to mean?” she asked shortly.

“It means you’re too nice, too perfect to really do any damage, even though you hate my guts.”

“Golden girl,” he reiterated matter of factly.

Rey shot him a nasty look. “I am  _ not _ a golden girl. I’ve said plenty of nasty things to you in the past.”

Solo pushed off of the shelf and began walking. “Not really. And yeah you are.”

She chased him, grabbing her cart along the way. “No, I’m not! How am I a  _ golden girl _ ?”

He slowed and heaved a sigh, as if he were tired of the conversation though Rey saw right through it. He had been the one to keep it going everytime she started to walk away. 

“Lots of reasons,” he said. “From the way you perfectly follow each Resistance tenet and look down on anyone who doesn’t, to the annoyingly perky way you dress, your girly triple buns and a surfboard that is so colorful, it looks like a rainbow vomited all over it. And the fact that you think you’ve insulted me a bunch with your little comebacks.”

“You’re like this little princess surfer girl,” he continued smugly and gestured at her cart. “Even the things you threw in there prove it.”

“Kiddie cereal and junk, chocolate milk and candy. Perfect, bubblegum princess stuff.”

“Oi!” she yelped, “I’ve got healthy things in there too! Or did you intentionally overlook the wine, almond milk, whole wheat crackers, fruit  _ and _ Bellavitano cheese?”

Solo shrugged effortlessly, a tick of his that was growing increasingly irksome to her. “Your other choices negate everything else.”

“That’s just stupid,” Rey retorted. “I’ve got a sweet tooth — it’s nothing to be ashamed of. We can’t all subsist off of…” she trailed trying to peek at what Ben had in his basket, “...Almond butter, greek yogurt and...kale crisps…” she pulled a face at the offensive bag in question. 

They arrived at check out and to Rey’s surprise, Ben took his place behind her. “I reject your claim that I’m some  _ golden girl princess _ .”

The dark haired surfer chuckled softly. “Doesn’t work that way.”

Rey shook her head in annoyance and began placing her food on the belt. The cashier, an older woman with curly hair looped into a large bun at the top of her head did a double take when she saw Rey. Her eyes went wide and a massive smile rounded out her wizened cheeks. 

“Rey-Rey?” She asked, taking Rey in, “Little Rey-Rey? Maz Kanata’s girl?”

Rey nodded, a blush spreading across her cheeks at how loudly the cashier used her old childhood nickname. Solo was close enough to hear. And she did  _ not _ want him hearing anything about her if she could help it.

“Hey! Kalani!” the old woman shouted at another worker a few stands down. “Maz’s girl is here!”

The other woman turned and this one, Rey did recognize. She was one of the ladies Maz always played bridge with while Rey was growing up. “Oh hey, little Rey-Rey, howzit?”

Rey sent her a smile, “I’m good, auntie. How are you?”

The old woman shrugged. “Oh I’m alright. Starting to wish more for the hanabata days now that I’m ancient. What brings you back home?”

“I’m here for the Vans Triple Crown. I’m a competitor.”

“You a big surfer girl now, Rey-Rey? That’s wonderful! Gonna make us proud, yeah?”

“Yeah, auntie, I’ll do my best.” She smiled at Kalani.

Kalani nodded, satisfied. “You better come over and see Auntie Kalani before you go back to mainland. It looks like you need lots of good Hawaiian meals to fill you out.” She gave Rey one final once over and then turned back to the customer she was ringing up, assuming that it was a done deal. 

Rey would have to make time to visit the old lady for Maz’s sake. She didn’t mind though, from what she remembered, Kalani was an amazing cook.

Her cashier caught her attention again. “Do you have your Foodland card still, Rey-Rey? It’ll give you the Kama’aina discount.”

Rey shook her head in the negative. “No, auntie, I just have my phone number. But I haven’t lived here in about four years. It wouldn’t be right.”

Ben made a noise as if her actions were proving his claims about her and she shot him a glare over her shoulder.

The old cashier pfft’ed and waved her off. “Nonsense! If you have a Hawaiian number, you get Kama’aina.” The old woman stared Rey down, not budging until Rey sighed, gave in and punched her phone number in. The cashier smiled wide in victory and finished ringing her up.

“Thanks auntie!” Rey grabbed her bags and started to walk away but hesitated. Before she let herself think about it, she whipped around and walked back to the stand. Why was she doing this? 

“Yes?” the cashier asked in confusion. 

Rey gestured to Ben without looking at him. “He’s with me, auntie. Can I give him my discount too?”

The cashier stared at Ben with narrow eyes and shrugged. “If he’s really with you, sure, go ahead.”

Rey nodded gratefully and punched her number in one last time, ignoring the flabbergasted look Solo was giving her. 

He was done even faster than she had been and met Rey near the exit. Why did she wait for him? She should have just hurried out and would already be across the street.

“So,” he started slowly as they exited Foodland, “What was that?”

Rey tensed, not wanting to address the discount. “What was what?” She asked cautiously.

“You were calling those strangers ‘auntie’. And your accent. You went from sounding completely British to some weird hybrid of Hawaiian and British. But now you sound like you again.”

She relaxed, glad he was choosing not to bring up the Kama’aina discount.

And then Rey pursed her lips. She’d never noticed that she picked up a bit of a Hawaiian accent. No one had ever bothered to mention it to her. But it did make sense. In fact, the only reason why it wasn’t stronger was because she wanted to keep an aspect of her old life — the life before her abandonment —intact  just in case her parents ever realized that they wanted her back. It was a childish hope, but one that fueled a dedication to keeping her British enunciation, even when the school kids laughed at her. 

But Rey didn’t want to explain that to him. She wasn’t really sure she wanted to still be talking to him anyway, so she kept the answer simple. “I lived here for thirteen years before I signed on with Resistance. Obviously I’d pick up a bit of an accent.”

Solo nodded slowly, accepting her explanation. “And the auntie stuff?”

She looked over at him in annoyance. Why did he care? Why was he asking so many questions? And why was he bouncing between friendly to caustic and back again? “That’s how you talk to the older ladies here. They’re all aunties. And most of them knew my foster mother, so I’d get my ass whooped if I didn’t call them that.” Though Maz was no longer around to whoop her ass.

Solo said nothing for a moment. 

“Oh.” He kicked at a rock on the asphalt. “That’s odd…”

Rey rolled her eyes. Leave it to a mainlander to judge the way people lived here. Rey kept walking toward Kam Highway, eager to be rid of him and this weird conversation. The heavy bags weighed her hands down and her biceps were beginning to burn. She cursed herself for not thinking about the fact that she needed to walk a mile and a quarter back to Resistance House when she was gleefully throwing heavy jugs of milk into her cart.  _ Chocolate milk is worth the burn _ , she thought through gritted teeth, trying to bolster herself for the strain ahead.

She was just about to step onto the asphalt of Kam Highway when Ben Solo’s voice stopped her again. 

“Where are you going?”

Rey stopped. She thought that their conversation was over, but clearly he didn’t. She glanced back at him and lifted her shoulders in an attempt at a shrug, but the grocery bags weighed her arms down, so it looked more like a twitch instead. “I’m walking home, what does it look like?”

“That’s insane. You don’t have a car here?”

Rey laughed out loud at the incredulity in his voice. Bloody rich surfer. She’d almost forgotten who she was talking to. Each of the First Order surfers probably had a car each parked in the driveway. “No, I don’t have a car. We have one van for all the surfers.” Rose and Paige had the pickup truck, but that didn’t really count seeing as it was theirs and not the team’s.

“Let me give you a ride back.” 

Rey almost let go of her grocery bags in shock. Ben Solo was offering her a ride? The thought was almost too comical to entertain. A strangled laugh broke from her chest and then she shook her head in the negative. “No, I’m fine thank you. I walked here and I can make it back just fine.”

Solo shook his head adamantly. “Niima, it’s dark, I’m not seeing many light posts and it looks like your arms are going to tear out of your sockets. Please, let me take you home.”

Was he suggesting she couldn’t care for herself? She bloody well could and she would prove it to him. “Thanks Solo, but I’ll be okay walking. I can take care of myself just fine.”

Ben Solo wasn’t having it. “Niima,” his deep voice was saturated in exasperation, “Please. Our houses are right next to each other and I wouldn’t feel right about you walking out here by yourself.” He raised his hands in front of him in a gesture of peace before Rey could cut in with a retort. “I’m not doubting your ability to fight off anyone. But it’s late and do you really want to carry those heavy groceries all the way back?”

Rey’s arms were burning with the effort from holding the bags now, but she refused to let them drop. Her shoulder, cut up from colliding with the reef during the two-wave hold down earlier prickled and stung. Avoiding the discomfort of walking home with a hurt shoulder and heavy load and taking Solo’s offer was becoming more and more tempting as the moments passed.

He proffered a hand to take some of the bags. “Let me take you home?”

Rey looked down at his hand and chewed on her cheek. She really didn’t want to sit in a car with him, even if it was only a five minute drive. But she also wasn’t thrilled by the idea of carrying thirty pounds all the way back to the house. 

She eyed him for a moment before silently nodding.

“Alright, I’ll accept the ride,” she finally said and then almost cracked a smile when a huge smile lit up all of Solo’s face, crinkling his eyes and showing his slightly crooked teeth. She had to fight against smiling with all she had. But her damn lips betrayed her and smiled back anyway.

His smile was so genuine — so rare, that for a moment, Rey found herself speechless. She’d only ever seen him in competition and the occasional hosted party, so it wasn’t like she saw Ben Solo often. But not once in the past four years of sporadic encounters had she ever seen him smile. Especially when she was involved. 

And in spite of her dislike of him and all things First Order, Rey wanted to see that smile again. Rey recoiled from that realization and filed it away to a deep, dark part of her brain.

She swallowed and forced her breathing to stay even, praying that Solo couldn’t see her blazing cheeks as she walked back into the Foodland lot. He stopped her with a hand and took her loaded bags with him. If it hadn't been such a relief to have the weight taken away, she might have said something snarky at him due to her annoyance at his assumption she couldn’t carry her own groceries to the car.

Instead, she followed him from behind as he approached the matte black Range Rover. 

Of course  _ that _ particular car was his. It had Ben Solo written all over it from the black rims to the black leather interior.

The car smelled surprisingly nice, Rey noticed as she settled in. Like spiced leather or something masculine Rey couldn’t define. Sandalwood maybe? But it definitely didn’t smell like old sunscreen, the scent she’d come to expect whenever in a fellow surfer’s car. 

Solo opened the door for her on his way to the trunk. That had also surprised her. But she wasn’t going to let it affect her. Nope. She already let Ben Solo get to her enough for one day. 

Honestly, both interactions with him today were enough to last her the rest of her life. So she was going to get through this ride in peace and hopefully only see him from a distance for the next two months. And then things would go back to normal, with them seeing each other only on competition days if that. Then they could go back to snarking at each other as was their way.

Quiet music began playing when Solo started the SUV but he didn’t make any attempt to start another conversation, which suited Rey just fine. Their interactions tonight had been all over the place, from outright hostile to teasing to verging on friendly. Her brain felt like it was suffering from whiplash and she wasn’t sure if she’d be able to handle any more of it.

He pulled onto Kam Highway without a hitch and started the drive back to the row of houses on Banzai Pipeline.

The silence wasn’t oppressive by any means, but Rey soon realized that she didn’t want the ride to be entirely quiet, so she said the first thing that popped into her head. 

“Thanks for the ride, Solo.” she said after clearing her throat quietly. “You saved my arms a lot of grief.”

Her dark haired companion blinked in surprise. Apparently he wasn’t expecting conversation from her. He cleared his throat softly.“It was no problem, Niima. I promise.”

“Still... ” she trailed. Why was she continuing the conversation? She said thanks and now she should want to let the silence continue. Except, as she opened her mouth and engaged herself in a new conversation, she found that she wasn’t entirely sure she wanted to stop talking, even to  _ him _ . 

Had she been that lonely over the past year that she was craving conversation with even someone she loathed?

“I haven’t been exactly nice to you tonight. You tried to apologize and I verbally attacked you. But you still offered to take me home anyway… ”

Ben’s lips twitched, though he didn’t truly smile. “Trust me when I say that it takes a lot more than what you did tonight to really get to me. And…” he sighed softly, eyes staring out at the road, “I don’t blame you for yelling at me. I’ve been a dick to you in the past.”

He turned onto their street and slowed the car down. And oddly enough, she wasn’t even certain that she wanted to get away from his presence as fast as she had a few minutes ago. She shifted her head to look at him. He looked uncomfortable and tense even as the SUV slowed to a crawl. Solo swallowed heavily and then met her eyes. In the darkness, they looked as black as the night sky, but like the night sky, Rey was certain that they held depth. And even in the dim light of the dashboard, she could see his genuine sincerity. 

“I’m...sorry I’ve been so awful to you, Rey.” 

Her breath caught slightly as she registered the last word of the sentence. Solo was calling her by her first name again. And damn it, she couldn’t deny that it definitely affected her.

Rey’s brows drew together in shock more than confusion. He was apologizing to her again? 

Rey sat back and looked out the windshield, intaking a shaky breath. There weren’t many things that surprised her. But Ben Solo, champion surfer and First Order asshole, apologizing to her not once, but twice in the same evening? That numbered somewhere in the top three. And quite frankly, she didn’t know how to respond. How do you respond to someone apologizing for being a complete ass for the past four years? Granted, she was the instigator just as often as he was. But still. What could she even say?

Solo seemed to take her silence as another rejection of his apologies and he stopped before Resistance house, eyes melancholy yet still understanding.

“You don’t have to accept, Rey...I know I’ve been a jerk to you. I just wanted you to know that I’m sorry.”

Rey looked over at him again. He wasn’t looking her in the eyes, but his head was angled towards her. Her stomach twisted oddly and a part of her kind of wished she could just hop out and leave him there. But he’d put himself on the line twice now and she felt wrong about just leaving him hanging.

“I just…” she started and tried again, “I guess I just don’t know what to say?” she trailed in a question. “Of everything that could have happened tonight, I never anticipated something like this…”

Ben chewed his lip and nodded softly, still not looking straight at her. 

“And it’s not that I don’t appreciate that you’re apologizing. It’s just,” her hands twisted together, pulling on her sweatshirt. “I guess I don’t know why you’re doing this? Why are you suddenly trying to be nice to me?”

Nice was probably relative, seeing as he fired back as readily as she had when they were arguing in the cookie aisle of Foodland. But still… 

Ben’s mouth went slack and Rey swore that she could detect a hint of pinkness across his cheeks. He licked his lips, a motion Rey’s eyes followed instinctively, before he answered her.

“I guess seeing you not come up after Hux shoved you off your wave, and finding you fighting for your life underwater, nearly unconscious… it made me realize that…” he stopped abruptly and fidgeted with the steering wheel for a moment. Then he collected himself and continued, more casually this time. “Well, I realized some things about myself. Like maybe I shouldn’t be such a dick to you. Even if you’re on the worst team in the league.” He smirked and the action broke some of the tension inside the confines of the vehicle.

You didn’t have to have a doctorate to know that wasn’t what he was going to say. But Rey didn’t want to press him, so she went along with it. “Oh really?” she laughed. “Because I sort of feel the opposite now when it comes to your teammates. Especially Hux. He’s the bloody worst.” 

She couldn’t completely include Ben in it anymore. His actions earlier today and tonight had messed with her perception and now she wasn’t one hundred percent positive about him. Maybe ninety-five percent? Ninety?

“But,” she continued, “you’ve done a bit of work tonight that maybe, sort of, kind of almost makes me think you’re not as bad as I thought.  _ Maybe. _ ” she stressed with a half smile. 

His eyes lit up and he met her eyes with a hint of a smile. “That’s better than nothing,” he joked. Then he looked past the gate at Resistance House and that hint was gone. “You better get out of here before your teammates catch you fraternizing with the enemy.”

“They’ve all gone into Waikiki to go clubbing,” she told him without thinking. But he had a point. It wouldn’t be good for them to be seen together. And she really couldn’t justify hanging out with him in his car now that she was outside her house. She unbuckled her seatbelt and Ben popped the trunk and hopped out of his seat in a flash. Rey was barely out of her own seat when he came around with her groceries.

“Thank you,” she said, surprised. That was… very gentlemanly of him. Again.

He cracked a half smile in response and handed them to her. “Goodnight, Niima.”

Rey nodded. “‘Night, Solo.”

She walked away, feeling confused and...well honestly, she didn’t know what else. 

Before she opened the door, she risked a look behind her at the odd sight of Ben Solo in a Range Rover in her driveway and was treated to an even stranger sight. Ben Solo in her driveway with a small, giddy smile.

She hurried in before he noticed her watching his private moment and felt her face grow hot at the thought of that dreamy look on his face.

Then she groaned at herself and decided she needed the whole bottle of wine tonight.

* * *

A few hours later, Rey wandered into her room, less drunk than intended but happily full of cereal and cheese. 

She didn’t finish the bottle as she planned to. She ended up getting about halfway through before she decided it was more than enough for her. Or  m ore than her stomach could handle at least. 

The eight episodes of Parks and Rec were exactly what she needed. Rey shuffled into the bathroom feeling happy even though she’d had what she would call a very rough day and washed her face slowly, enjoying the warm water and rinsing her skin clean. She lined her toothbrush with paste and thoroughly brushed her teeth, scrubbing away the residue of sugar cereal and red wine. 

When she was finished with her routine, she flipped off the lights, though her room was far from dark. With the lights off Rey could see the moon shining brightly over the ocean, reflecting a pale light across the waves and highlighting a lone figure on a black surfboard.

Rey stopped and then moved toward her sliding glass door, curiosity piqued over the odd sight. She watched Ben Solo for a moment. He wasn’t doing much — wasn’t surfing or attempting to catch any waves. Instead, he sat upright, face out toward the black horizon and remained still. It was an unusual sight, but Rey thought she could feel peace emanating from him. As if the rise and fall of the ocean’s tides was the only place he seemed to find peace. Her lips pulled into an inadvertent smile and she watched for a few heartbeats more before laying on her bed, allowing the pull of alcohol and exhaustion to lull her into a deep sleep.

  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WSL: World Surfing League
> 
> Hanabata Days: Pidgin term for runny nose days/ to refer to more youthful years
> 
> Disclaimer: Most of the surfing rules/regulations mentioned here and in future chapters will be pulled from the WSL handbook. However, I will take some creative license to make certain points work. Like stuff with First Order. 
> 
> I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! Please leave a comment below to let me know what you think. I also have a complete TROS story posted if you are in need of a happily ever after for Rey and Ben if anyone is interested!


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much to those who commented and left me kudos! I really appreciate seeing numbers next to my inbox and getting an emails from AO3 telling me who liked the story. It seriously makes my day to read what you have to say.
> 
> So this chapter is all surfing with only a little sprinkle of Reylo. I promise next chapter will be loaded with Reylo though! 
> 
> As for the Qualifying competition, I have no idea if that's how it truly works. I did my best to check on the WSL rule book and follow what I found, but some of it was sort of made up. Hopefully I didn't miss the mark too much. 
> 
> I hope you enjoy!

**CHAPTER FOUR: Qualifiers**

**November 4th**

Three days after Rey had what she was beginning to consider a breakthrough with Ben Solo, the Call came in.

It was barely after seven in the morning. She was still sound asleep in her bed, wrapped in the warm comforter when her door burst open and  _ three _ fully grown people jumped on top of her. 

She woke with a screech, which incited bouts of laughter from her attackers. “Rey!” one of them shouted, morning breath overpowering her senses, “They made the call for Qualifiers! Men and Women’s today at ten AM sharp!”

On the other side, another voice shouted. “I am so pumped! Let’s do this!” This person’s breath did not smell as bad. As though they had the decency to brush their teeth before bothering their sleeping teammate… She guessed that was Finn.

The third, clearly female and almost certainly Kaydel Ko Connix, sprawled on top of Rey. “Come on, sleepy head! We’re all up and the Ticos are making breakfast burritos! And if you don’t get down there soon, these two idiots are going to eat it all.”

Rey groaned, feeling exhausted in spite of the nine hours of sleep she just had. She’d gone particularly hard at practice yesterday and was feeling it. Hopefully she would be able to loosen some of the aches up before her heat. But the mention of breakfast burritos had her intrigued enough to peek out of her nest of blankets.. “What kind of meat?” she asked as she pulled the blanket down a bit to peer at Kaydel.

Kaydel squinted for a moment, trying to remember. “Bacon, for sure. And I think either sausage or chorizo?”

“And they had a vegetarian option too — ” Stinkybreath, who turned out to be Poe Dameron, said. “For the new guys? One of them is vegetarian I think and Nodin Chavdri is too.”

“There better be some bacon left when I get down there,” Rey grumbled. She turned to Poe, “And you — go brush your teeth. It smells like something died in there.” She shoved him away and he yelped indignantly. 

Poe pulled a face but covered his mouth anyway. “Yours isn’t so great either.”

Kaydel slid off the bed, allowing Rey to sit up and stretch. “Alright, I’m up. Let’s go stuff our faces.” 

Finn and Poe shoved Rey off the bed while she was still entangled in her blankets and both leapt off the bed. They started sprinting down the stairs. “You cheated!” Rey yelled after them, laughing as Kaydel helped her untangle. As soon as she was free, she hurried down the stairs and found herself faced with a line of hungry Resistance surfers. 

Things had gotten a bit more chaotic over the past few days as well. The remaining two Resistance surfers flew in yesterday, making the total occupancy jump up to thirteen people, eight of whom were bottomless pits.

If there wasn’t any bacon left by the time it was Rey’s turn, she was going to steal a piece from everyone’s plates. And she would eat it whilst staring into the eyes of each person who took more than their fair share. That would show them. 

Everyone should know by now to not cross Rey when it came to food. Particularly when it came to three specific foods. Freshly baked chocolate chip cookies, freshly fried spring rolls and bacon.

Speaking of chocolate chip cookies, she would have to go talk to Rose to see if she could convince her to make some tonight. Heavens know she would need a few after the stress of competing. And nothing on earth was better than settling down with a movie on and a warm, gooey cookie in hand. With milk. And maybe a cookie or two more. 

But as she arrived at the front of the line, she knew the gods were smiling down on her because there was a giant pile of bacon ready for her to demolish. She hurried over and snatched several pieces and put them on her plate before adding the tortilla, eggs and cheese. She looked down the line and spotted a few more toppings she wanted. Some guacamole, salsa and home fried potatoes should do nicely.

Rey was drooling by the time she finished assembling her breakfast burrito. She slid into the seat next to Finn outside and poured herself a nice glass of fresh orange juice and took a massive bite.

She closed her eyes, enjoying the explosion of flavors in her mouth so thoroughly that she didn’t notice that Finn was trying to talk to her.

“Earth to Rey!” 

Her eyes popped open and she peered at him. Couldn’t he see she was trying to enjoy her meal?

She hurriedly chewed and swallowed, wincing a little and then took a sip of her juice. “Sorry, what?”

Finn leaned in closer. “I was wondering if you’d heard anything from Rose? Does she talk about me at all?” He looked apprehensive, as though he was expecting bad news.

Apparently while Rey was having the strangest night of her life, Finn and Rose sort of hit it off at the clubs. But these two were absolutely  _ hopeless _ , so now they were using Rey as the in between so that they could feel the other out and see if feelings matched. They clearly did, which was why Rey was slightly annoyed that they were dragging her into this. 

But she loved them both and had thought for a long time that they would make an excellent couple. She only wished that she had been around to witness the moment when they sparked.

Rey smiled. He had absolutely nothing to worry about. “She’s been asking the same thing. Honestly, Finn. I don’t know why you don’t believe me when I say she definitely likes you. Rose gives you the eyes whenever she’s not busy with some task Paige set her to.”

Finn lit up. “Really?” He took a large bite out of his breakfast and chewed quickly. “So can you ask her if she’d go out with me?”

Rey laughed, exasperated and entertained at Finn’s cluelessness. “What are you, in elementary school? Finn. Just ask her out!”

Her friend looked down at his plate, abashed. “I know, it should be easy like that. But I’m still kinda messed up from the last rejection and I just don’t think I could take it.”

Rey nodded in understanding. Finn hadn’t been especially lucky in love. In the beginning, it looked like maybe he and Poe were going to get together. But after a few months, they decided they were better off as friends. That had surprised Rey, because she thought things were going great. So Finn explained her that while he was looking for a more serious relationship, Poe wasn’t. Finn had taken it hard, but things were good between the pair of them now. Sometimes Rey wondered if maybe they might get back together, but so far it seemed that Finn and Poe had settled firmly into their roles as friends.

There had been a few others in between, but those relationships didn’t go anywhere. 

Then it looked like he was going to get together with an Australian surfer about a year ago, but that fizzled out unexpectedly and Finn took that rejection especially hard. 

She felt bad for him. She knew better than anyone that all Finn wanted was someone to love. She understood that he was scared. And she really hoped that Finn and Rose would get their acts together and make each other really happy. Because they definitely could. 

“Tell you what,” she started conspiratorially because it would help her friend gain the confidence he desperately needed and in part, because she was going to really benefit from it. “I’ll casually mention to Rose that you love chocolate chip cookies. If there are freshly baked chocolate chip cookies tonight, then you will know for a fact that she likes you because she made something you like.”

Finn met her eyes, the apprehension shifting to nervous excitement. “Yeah, okay. Tell her that.” His brow quirked and he leant closer. “My favorite cookies are actually peanut butter, but I’ll let you have this since you’re helping me out and I know chocolate chip cookies are your favorite.”

Rey sent him a cheeky smile and continued scarfing down her burrito. While she ate, she prodded Finn for more details on what the swell was going to be like at Sunset Beach. He sipped on a coffee that tragically appeared to not have enough cream in it, in Rey’s humble opinion and told her about the expected conditions. Waves were currently at fourteen feet and were expected to rise one to two feet more by the start of qualifiers. The wind was offshore and was creating perfect waves, exactly what the scouts were looking for. 

The descriptions of the swell made Rey feel absolutely antsy and eager to get to the beach as soon as possible. But it was barely seven thirty. 

Luckily there were plenty of things she could do in the next hour and a half before they needed to be there for warmup and pre-surf sessions. She would also have to double check with Beaumont that her registration and everything were set. Rey knew Beaumont would have it done, but it always put her at ease whenever she made sure. 

So with a full stomach, she said goodbye to Finn and checked with Beaumont.

The blonde man stared at her for a moment as if he thought she was bonkers and then with a tired sigh that only Beaumont could perfectly perform, told her that her registration was taken care of. 

“Go check your emails next time. Alright Niima?” he shouted after her as she made her way to the kitchen. 

Rose and Paige finally had the chance to sit down and eat their own breakfasts and Rey popped into the bar seat next to Rose just as she was taking her first bite. 

Rey folded her hands primly on the bar and waited for Rose to swallow. 

“That smile is creeping me out,” Rose said plainly and then took another bite of her breakfast. 

Rey’s smile grew. She imagined she looked positively maniacal. “I just thought I’d pop by to tell you what I heard from a particular little birdie.”

Her longtime friend immediately choked and started coughing, her eyes bugged out in surprise and she forced the rest of the food down in a painful swallow. Rose grabbed Rey by the shoulders and rushed them into the back corner of the kitchen. Paige shot them an odd look but continued eating her meal after a moment’s hard stare. 

Rose looked around to make sure no one was listening in and then leaned closer to Rey. “What did Finn say?” she hissed shrilly. Her eyes were wide, comically similar to the nervous eyes of Finn from a few moments ago. 

“Oh nothing really, he asked about you a bit. Wanted to know if you’ve been asking about him.” Rey leaned against the fridge. “You know, I happen to know that his favorite cookies are peanut butter cookies.” 

Damn it. Damn her for being such a good friend and not telling Rose his favorite was chocolate chip. “And with it being competition day and all, I think Finn would really appreciate it if there happened to be freshly baked peanut butter cookies for dessert tonight. Might send a message?”

Rose’s expression grew excited. “I can definitely do that. My cookies are killer. I just need to — Wait…” she grabbed Rey’s hand and pulled her to Paige. 

“Paige!” Rose stage whispered at her older sister, who was now taking a long draught from her OJ glass and not seeming willing to stop anytime soon. “Paaiige!”

Paige set her empty glass down with a thunk and nodded at Rose to continue. 

“Do we have any peanut allergies here?” Rose asked, an edge to her voice as she practically hopped from foot to foot nervously.  _ She must really want to make those cookies for Finn _ . 

Paige tapped her lips for a moment and then picked up her binder, which was almost always by her side. “I don’t know,” she hummed as flipped past the cover. “I know we have some allergies, but maybe not peanut?” Paige flipped to a spot in the back of the binder. “Let’s see… we have a sesame allergy and a very rare allergy to apricots.” She shut the book and looked at Rey and Rose. “No peanut allergies though. Why do you ask?”

“Rose wants to make Finn his favorite cookies for team dessert tonight.” Rey chimed with a smirk. Rose promptly elbowed Rey in the ribs and Rey yelped.

Paige smirked and nodded, “Yeah, I think we can make those. But only if it’s the giant ones you make that are stuffed with peanut butter.” She looked at Rey, brow cocked. “And whatever cookies she wants. Cause she’s helping your lame ass get this boy.”

“Fine,” Rose agreed. “Deal. I’m making peanut butter stuffed, peanut butter cookies. Only because once he tries them, he will have no choice but to fall in love with me. And I guess I can make Rey’s favorite chocolate chip recipe for her assistance in my love life.” She winked at Rey and hugged her sister.

Rey shrugged lightly, chirping smugly. “It’s what I deserve.” Then she checked the time and hurried off to her next task, prepping her boards before the competition. 

* * *

Thirty minutes before qualifiers were set to begin, Rey was heading into the water for her pre surf session. Her muscles were stretched and warmed. She was ready for anything. The water was on the cool side, but still pleasant and though the clouds covered the sun, she was certain they would burn off by noon. The wind blew the free strands of her hair away from her cheeks from the island and toward the ocean, indicating the offshore winds that Finn had told her about. 

The waves were a good size and excellent shape for today’s events. She should be able to get a lot of action on them, lots of carving and whatnot. Rey smiled gleefully, her short board in arm. The bright colors of the board’s bottom caught her eye and reminded her of Ben Solo’s comment that it looked like a rainbow had puked all over it. 

Her lips curved into a smirk as she took in the flowering patterns. Solo was exaggerating of course, but the colors were very much “in your face”. And that was what she loved about it. Without thinking, she looked out to see if Solo’s telltale black board was out in the water. It took her all of twenty seconds looking before she spotted him alongside his teammates.

He looked singularly focused — completely centered with calm, almost detached concentration. The intensity emanating from him was so potent that Rey could sense it even from hundreds of yards away. It was no wonder he was one of the top surfers in the league right now. The way he completely lost himself in the competition — how he could tune everyone and everything but the waves themselves out — well, it made him a dangerous competitor. Almost impossible to beat.

Rey turned her attention from the First Order surfers back to her zone. The waves weren’t perfect by any means, not as good as the area sectioned off for the day's events, but she didn’t need perfection right now. She just needed to get a feel of the water and maybe ride a wave or two. Then she’d paddle in and get a final check on her heat’s call time. 

Luck was on her side. It took her only twenty minutes to catch two waves. So when Rey was satisfied that she was warmed up, she let the white water rush her to the shore.

While she walked toward the registration booth, she closed her eyes and inhaled deeply, trying to calm her fluttering stomach. Rey really didn’t have any reason to be nervous. It was only Qualifiers and she knew for a fact that she would be scoring on the higher end of the spectrum today. But she couldn’t help but feel jittery and nervous. This was the  _ Vans World Cup _ for crying out loud! 

The workers at the booth were all smiles as they confirmed her call time. The women had a stretch of beach where the waves were slightly smaller than the men’s zone. So the women would compete there and Rey was in the first heat, call time fifteen minutes after the qualifier’s opening ceremony, at 10:15 sharp. So she had about thirty minutes of downtime before she was to head down to the water and begin her heat. One of the attendants cheerfully handed her a light blue lycra rash guard with her competition bib pinned to it, which Rey appreciated. She hated pinning the stupid things onto her guard. With a wave, she left and made her way past the judges pavilion to one of the surfer’s tents. 

She located Zorii Bliss and Kaydel Ko Connix, already toweled off and wrapped up in team hoodies near the front of the tent. “Hey guys,” she greeted as she sat down on the sand next to her pack. “Did you find out what heat you’re all in?”

“Third,” Kaydel hummed as she played on an old nintendo. 

“Second,” Zorii intoned softly as she sifted through the sand next to her. She looked almost bored, idly scooping up sand and letting it fall through her fingers idly. But Rey knew that wasn’t the case. Especially since women had been invited to participate in the Vans Triple Crown — Pipe Masters, the final event of the competition, included — for the first time in ten years .

Back in 2011, it was decided that Women’s surfing would host their own competition on Maui as a replacement to the Women’s portion of the Vans Triple Crown of Surfing. It had caused outrage and all sorts of protesting, but the WSL didn’t undo it. After ten long years of campaigning, protesting and working with the Honolulu city council and the WSL, the hard work finally paid off. Women had finally been granted equal opportunity to surf with the men once more and were invited back to Oahu to compete in the Triple Crown on the famous North Shore.

Every single female surfer here today was over the moon at being the first invited back to the Triple Crown. Zorii Bliss included.

Hopefully next year the event would be even more inclusive by inviting more women and allowing young hopefuls the chance to qualify just like the men’s side.

Rey scooped some sand of her own, rubbing the mealy texture between her thumb and fingers. It was going to be a long day. She was really grateful that Ted’s Bakery sat right behind the beach on the other side of Kam Highway. Because there was a high chance that she wouldn’t be getting back to the house until dinner time. And she was going to need something to eat.

The first round of the competition was to organize the seeding and would consist of four heats of four surfers. Normally the entirety of the competition would take several days to complete, like it would for the men, but since there were only twenty women competing this year, they would likely finish qualifiers by evening, depending on the waves.

Four surfers would be eliminated by the end of the first round, and they would continue to the second round, where four more would be eliminated in four heats of four. Then they would progress to the quarter finals consisting of the remaining twelve surfers, the semi finals, with two heats of four surfers and then the finals, where the top four surfers would compete in one final heat. One hour to catch as many waves as possible, with their top two scoring waves deciding the winner.

Luckily, out of the twenty surfers, only four would be totally eliminated from competing in the Vans Triple Crown. The remaining sixteen would proceed to the Hawaiian Pro at Haleiwa Beach Park in two weeks. So she just had to make sure she didn’t totally shit the bed today. And she wouldn’t. 

Rey knew that first place would come down to her and Gwyneth Phasma today. And it made her more than a little nervous. Phasma was a power house in the world of women’s surfing. Her Amazonian frame lent her strength and speed most women just couldn’t compete with. So with her physique combined with the way First Order surfers competed, Gwyneth Phasma was almost unbeatable. Or… really,  _ was _ unbeatable. Phasma had won the last several World Championships. She’d gone unchecked, unchallenged. 

But that was going to change starting today. Rey knew that she could challenge her. Knew that she could beat her.

She released the remainder of the sand and listened to the commentators announce the zones in the water for the men and women competitors. And within minutes, Qualifiers had begun.

* * *

Rey took first in her heat of round one. And first in the heat after that. 

It was nearing one PM and Rey was awaiting the call time for the third round, where she would surf in the quarter finals against Zorii and two others; a surfer from Roxy and one from Billabong, in the first heat. 

Rose had already come by and visited for a while, bringing some water and gatorade to keep Rey hydrated and filled with electrolytes. She was at Ted’s right now, ordering a teri chicken sandwich and salad for Rey’s lunch plus whatever Rose wanted to eat. They always made a habit of eating lunch together on the beach, and a competition was not going to get in the way of that tradition now. 

As soon as her heat ended, Rey was going to dig into her lunch and wait the remaining ninety minutes for the semi finals digesting her food and relaxing under the team tents. 

Rey looked across the ocean to where the men’s zone was. She listened with half an ear to the ongoing commentary. The men had just completed their seeding heats and were officially onto the second round of the qualifiers. 

Finn and Poe had scored top of their heats. Unfortunately, though absolutely unsurprising, Solo had also scored at the top of his, and he was put into the most competitive heat, with Hux in the mix as well. Rey didn’t have to talk to them to know how pissed the two were over that fact. 

Rey could only hope that most of the Resistance surfers would make the Qualifiers cut and move on to the Hawaiian Pro. Those eliminated today would probably stick around for a bit, but then they would need to move on and head back to the mainland. 

She was certain that her friends would make the cut. Finn and Poe were talented surfers. There was a reason why they were a part of the WSL Champion Tour. So she tried not to worry about them too much.

The fog horn designated to her zone blasted and announced the end of the final heat of round two. Her hands grasped the bottle of blue gatorade while she watched the women paddle back in and she took a long swig before standing. Within two minutes, an elderly official who liked shouting into his megaphone just a little too much was calling for her heat to line up and await the signal to paddle to their zone. 

She stood and stretched and then marched down to the shore break with Zorii by her side. 

“Good luck, Niima.” Zorii said with a nod, her green eyes squinted against the early afternoon sun. 

“You too, Bliss.” Rey called back. “But I’m sure I’ll be seeing you in the semis.” She smiled at the older surfer, who smiled back in her reserved way. 

“We’ll see,” she replied solemnly. “Casey and Black aren’t pushovers.”

Rey shrugged lightly, “Yeah, but neither are you.” She nudged Zorii with her hip, which elicited a quirked brow from the other woman. “And I kinda think they’re scared of you.”

Zorii looked over at the other two surfers who stood away from the Resistance girls. They kept shooting nervous glances in their direction and when Zorii noticed that, she chuckled lowly. “I think they’re scared of both of us,” she countered. 

Before Rey could respond, the initial blast, indicating that the surfers could enter the water, sounded. The four of them raced out and hurried to get to their zone before the second blast that officially started their thirty minute heat could go off. 

Rey got about forty five seconds of rest before the second horn blared and started their time. And about one minute after that, Zorii caught the first wave, beginning wave priority. She looked away from Zorii’s ride and focused on her breath. She needed to tune everything else out, couldn’t watch the others at risk of them getting into her head. So she entered a zone of focus that she only ever entered into while surfing and waited for  _ her  _ wave. 

When it came, Rey paddled hard, charging down the line to the drop zone. She stood as she dropped over the shoulder and carved into the face of the wave, sending seaspray all over. Her legs pumped as she dropped down the face a few more feet, gaining momentum and speed that propelled her up the face and allowed her to cutback sharply. It felt like it was executed perfectly, so she followed the line of the wave, carved a couple more times and then pumped her legs one last time to gain the momentum she needed to pull off her last maneuver. 

Muscle memory, won by constant repetition over the course of several years took over and Rey felt almost as if she were out of her body, watching her front shoulder rear back to throw a rotation that would help her rotate three-hundred and sixty degrees across the face and then she rode up and over the crest of the wave. 

She felt lift, and knew that she and her board were in the air and dropped onto the back of the wave nearly perfectly. She wobbled a little as she landed, but that probably wouldn’t result in a large deduction. 

The precision message board displayed her number and then below, her score blinked into existence. 

8.1

Rey wrinkled her nose. The judges were hard asses if they thought that only deserved an 8.1. She laid back down on the board and moved back to the lineup. She wasn’t going to let the score deter her. She knew that she could pull better waves.

So rather than pout, she refocused and waited for her wave priority. 

Shortly, her next wave came. Rey’s eyes fluttered closed and she charged to her new wave. Her drop in was not as strong as the first, but it wasn’t terrible. 

Her next score was lower. A 7.8. 

She rubbed at her temples and tried to shake the disappointment away. By her estimation, there would be about fifteen minutes left until the horn blared, signalling the end of the heat. So she probably only had two chances left to outscore her first run. And that was if the sets stayed consistent. 

A look out toward the horizon eased her worries. The sets were still coming in as they’d consistently done all day. Today really was the perfect day for a competition. She sat up and found her spot in the line up and waited her turn. 

When her third run finally came, Rey was a woman on a mission. Instinct took over as she dropped over the lip of the wave onto a face as smooth as glass. The wave felt better than the last one had, and this time, she was able to include two cutback carves and a nice fin release among other maneuvers. Her muscles felt loose and fluid and she couldn’t really imagine it going better than it did. Everything felt executed precisely.  _ And _ she definitely included more maneuvers this time.

She watched the message board nervously while the judges sent their average over. In giant numbers, it proudly flashed a solid 8.9. Relieved, Rey grinned and sat back. She outscored her first run and was the top scorer of the heat. She could sit out her last wave and still win. But where was the fun in that?

A final run gave her an 8.4 and she rode the white water in, satisfied with the way the heat went. So with the two top scores combined, Rey earned a total score of 17.3 points. And, looking at the scoreboard, that put her at the top of her heat again. Zorii placed second as Rey had predicted.

Rose sat under the surfer’s tent looking completely at home with a bag full of food next to her. “That last one looked really good!” she called as Rey plopped down beside her friend and promptly began digging for her lunch. 

She took a massive bite of her teri chicken sandwich and hummed happily. “Fanks,” she said through a mouthful of chicken and tomato. “I feel like the judges are starting to rate a little more harshly now. But I’m still hoping I can break nine before the day’s done.”

Rose sliced a piece of her teri beef and scooped up some rice on her fork. “Looks like you’re getting close. How many maneuvers did you throw in there?”

Rey thought back for a moment. Her runs were always sort of a blur to her after she completed them. “I think about five or six? Did you see my cutbacks? I got a good roundhouse cutback  _ and _ I stayed out of the white water.” That was always difficult for her, since roundhouses slowed you down so much. But it was doable. And she did it. So she felt really good about herself at the moment.

Her friend nodded. “Yeah. You think that your air 360 is ready yet? That’ll kill everyone. I saw Phasma do it earlier, but in my opinion, it looked a little sloppy.”

Rey had been practicing and training to perform the perfect air 360, but she wasn’t quite there yet. It required a lot of power, precision and speed and an insane amount of coordination. 

The maneuver was certainly an advanced move, especially for female surfers. But she’d worked hard to gain the strength and stamina to do it and she was  _ so  _ close. She could feel it. 

Rey shook her head shortly. “I’m not ready for that yet. I won’t do it until I’ve nailed it more times than I can count. Don’t wanna look  _ sloppy. _ ” She smirked as she chewed.

“And have you landed it yet?”

Rey’s smirk dropped as she took a vicious bite out of her sandwich, annoyed at herself. “No.”

“Ah, you’ll get it. No doubt there.”

Hopefully Rose was right. But it really was a difficult move. And she doubted it would be ready before the next Triple Crown. She didn’t want to let her friend down though, the only one who has always shown unwavering faith in Rey’s abilities. 

“I’ll get there eventually,” she smiled and then continued eating. The potency of the teriyaki sauce was just right and Rey was savoring every single bite. 

Zorii appeared a moment later and dried off with a small shammy she kept in her bag. She sat down on the other side of Rose and the small woman handed her some lunch. Zorii smiled. “Thanks, Rose. I’ll venmo you as soon as we get back to the house.”

Rose and Zorii picked up a conversation and let Rey eat in silence, which she was happy to do.

She peered through the surf into the men’s surf zone and spotted a tell tale black board on the water. Ben Solo was sitting proudly on his board, awaiting a new set to roll in. His broad back was to her, covered in a black lycra rash guard. Rey rolled her eyes, mildly exasperated at the color choice. 

Of course he would claim the black rash guard. 

This was the first time she was seeing him out there today, competing in a heat, but really, she would have been absolutely shocked if he hadn’t worn the black lycra in his previous heat. Rey honestly couldn’t even imagine Ben Solo in color. How ridiculous would he look in blue? Red? Yellow? She snorted at the idea of seeing him in such a cheerful color.

A set was quickly approaching and Solo immediately laid down on the deck of his board, thick arms paddling in powerful strokes. He quickly outstripped his opponents and dropped into the wave. A quick check at the priority board told her that priority hadn’t been established yet, so there was no interference penalty for the massive surfer. Though he probably wouldn’t have been penalized anyway…

Watching him, completely zeroed in and razor focused, was incredible to witness. 

Solo owned the wave, not the other way around. He looked so natural there, so at home. He was precise, powerful and so incredibly fast that Rey could hardly keep track of his maneuvers. But each one he accomplished was distinct from the next and looked nearly flawless. 

It was breathtaking.

When his run ended, Rey had a hard time from pulling her attention away from him and over to the precision score board. She sucked in a sharp breath when his score popped up.

A 9.5. 

Her eyes turned back to the spot where he ended his run, but he was gone, already paddling back to the line up, looking indifferent to the amazing score he just pulled off. 

She watched for a while longer, fascinated by the way he moved, feeling like she was watching something she shouldn’t be, and secretly hoping that he could see her watching him, acknowledging his prowess on the waves. But he couldn’t see her from such a distance, and even if he could see her, Solo wouldn’t look. He always kept his focus on the water. Never on the crowd.

* * *

The final round of the Qualifiers was set to begin at four sharp.

And as Rey predicted, it was her against the First Order’s top surfer, Gwyneth Phasma. 

The surfer in question stood a good twenty feet away from Rey, —s urfboard held under her arm. Her platinum hair was short and had dried slicked back against her skull, making her look slightly reminiscent of a female Draco Malfoy. 

Rey looked away, taking in a fortifying breath to steady her nerves while she awaited the horn. The crowd had grown substantially with the men’s competition ending half an hour earlier. The Men’s Qualifiers would continue tomorrow. Most of the male surfers had stayed around to watch the Women’s final round. 

Finn, followed shortly by Poe, had made their ways over to the tent Rey resided under all day, looking exhausted but cheerful. They spent most of the time amping Rey up, which Poe solemnly claimed was their duty. That made her laugh and eased the nerves that had been fluttering in her stomach ever since it was announced that she and Phasma would face off in the finals. 

But now the nerves were crashing against her full force. She shook her legs out and rolled her neck, breathing deeply again. 

It didn’t help that whenever she looked to her left, Ben Solo stood at the front of the crowd, watching her with dark, impenetrable eyes. 

Her heart immediately started crashing against her ribcage and her face flooded with warmth. But that was from the sun, right? She must have forgotten to reapply or something before her last heat. And she was probably dehydrated. 

The reaction was  _ not _ because Ben bloody Solo was watching her. Nope. Definitely not.

The horn blasted, pulling her from her thoughts and she raced out to the water, Phasma and the others doing the same about six yards away. 

They paddled out to their zone and settled down to wait for a set to come in. 

The good news about finals was that they lasted an hour instead of thirty minutes, so both she, Phasma and the other two women could be more selective when it came to the wave. The bad news was that the quality of the waves from earlier hours had degraded a bit more. 

The waves were no longer crisp. They got a tad mushy once the crest broke, but they were still very much surfable if you knew what you were doing. 

Their first few runs had been average. Neither Rey nor Phasma had scored over an eight. And it gave Rey some comfort, knowing that Phasma was struggling too. She was human, just like Rey. Not a superpowered-robot Amazonian creation.

In the distance, Rey spotted a set that looked like it had promise. She had priority too, but she knew for a fact that Phasma would try to steal the wave from her if she thought that the set was good, too. A quick glance to the right told her that Phasma was thinking the same thing as Rey. She was already down on her deck, poised to paddle as soon as Rey began.

She grit her teeth, frustration seeping in through the exhaustion. She was not going to give Phasma this wave. It was hers,  _ hers! _

So Rey paddled harder than she had all day, and she didn’t know how she managed — maybe the set was angled just so — but Rey beat the statuesque woman and claimed her wave.

It was more crisp than the waves had been all heat long. And Rey gave it her all. 

She pumped as she dropped down the face and accelerated up to the lip, pulling through a roundhouse cutback and then a layback snap off the top of the wave. She repeated this and sharpened the movements, fingers trailing into the crumbling white water. Her run was coming to a close, so she climbed to the top and went off the lip, racing down the face to carve back up and end with a reverse 360.

Panting, she turned the board around to check the board. It flashed with an 8.6.

Rey slapped the water, feeling victorious. It was the best score of the heat. And with less than twenty minutes left until the heat was called, she felt like she had a chance at winning.

Phasma broke eight during her run, but she was still behind Rey. 

Rey’s final run was her highest scoring one. Odd, how it so often worked out like that. She scored an 8.7, totalling her at 17.3, same as her quarter finals score. 

She was beginning to feel cautiously optimistic that she might actually win Qualifiers. 17.3 was a pretty solid score. And Phasma had only scored higher in the seeding round. 

But Rey should have known better. 

Phasma’s last run was simultaneously sickening and fascinating to watch. 

She performed better than she had all day, precisely maneuvering and cutting up and down the wave. Phasma looked like the surfing equivalent of a prima ballerina. If that ballerina was genetically combined with a panther or some other giant predatory cat.

Rey’s mouth dropped open wide. How the hell was she supposed to beat that?

She was chewing her cheeks to shreds while she awaited Phasma’s score to show up on the precision board. But she already knew what would pop up.

Phasma scored a 9.0, which gave her a total of 17.7 points.

Rey’s heart dropped to her stomach.

Phasma won the Qualifiers.

The final horn sounded, signaling the end of the heat  _ and _ the competition and Rey just sat there, astounded that the First Order surfer had pulled a run out like that at the last moment. And then she felt angry. Then embarrassed. And finally, disappointed. 

How the hell was she supposed to beat  _ that _ ?

Feeling a mixture of disappointment and embarrassment, Rey went in, hoping to get to the van as soon as possible and not face any reporters on the way up. She really didn’t want to talk about that crazy, last moment upset. Honestly didn’t know if she even  _ could _ talk about it right now. All she wanted to do was sit on her bed and go over everything in her mind with scalpel-like precision, picking every detail apart and then examining each one for that fatal flaw that had lost her the competition. See exactly what she could have done better. 

She almost walked into a wall.

An indignant yelp escaped her as Rey looked up and met Ben Solo’s dark eyes. Which actually didn't look quite so dark in the golden light of early sunset. They looked more like buttery caramel, warm and surprisingly inviting. 

Her lips parted in awe at the golden hue before she got a grip on herself and snapped her mouth shut.

He was one of the last people she wanted to see at the moment. 

Well, maybe that wasn’t quite true… Phasma would definitely be first on that list right now but Ben Solo was a very close second. 

She pulled out of the spell and threw back her head, groaning dramatically to  _ really _ show just how much she didn’t want to talk to him right now. “What do you want, Solo?” she demanded through annoyance.  _ Please, just let me pass and be on my way _ , she silently begged. She couldn’t deal with him or his weird mood swings.  _ Especially  _ not now.

Solo regarded her quietly for a moment, taking in her every movement with those shockingly light brown eyes. “You lost.”

Anger ignited within and heated her face rapidly, quickening her pulse and twisting her stomach in one sickening motion. “Yeah, no shit.” 

Leave it to Ben Solo to point out your failures at the precise wrong moment.

Rey tried to side step him, but he copied the movement and stayed in front of her. 

But Rey wasn’t having it. She stomped around his other side and made her way towards her waiting friends. All of whom were watching the exchange with expressions ranging from amusement to outright horror. She internally groaned at the idea of explaining this to them.

“You can beat her, you know.” 

Rey froze in her tracks and whirled to face him. “Really?” she called down the distance between them, sarcasm coloring her voice, “I’ll try to keep that in mind next time.”

She turned to go, but he was right there next to her. “I’m serious, Rey.” His voice was soft, gentle and sincere. Just like that first night here. Rey’s eyes moved upward, met his and she saw at once that he was being earnest. 

He almost had her with those big brown eyes and that soft, pouting mouth. But she wasn’t so easily fooled.

Rey was nothing if not suspicious, so she couldn’t help but wonder why Ben Solo was telling her that she could beat Gwyneth Phasma, one of his teammates.

“Why are you saying this?” she asked before processing the words that fell from her lips.

Solo worked his jaw for a moment, as though chewing through sentences thoughtfully before giving them life. 

“Because I want to help you.” He offered simply, eyes piercing hers. Rey’s mouth fell open.

She wanted to believe him. Even if it was only solely based on the fact that he looked so painfully honest, like he was begging her to accept his help. That moment didn’t last though. The suspicion within reared up once more and prevented her from accepting his plainly offered sincerity. 

Why on earth would Ben Solo want to help her? He was from a rival team.  _ The _ Rival Team. His teammate was a top contender of the Women’s World Cup and her direct competition. There had to be some sort of ulterior motive. There had to be some way he thought he could sabotage Rey and guarantee that Phasma wins the Vans Triple Crown.

Her mouth snapped shut with a click and her eyes narrowed to slits.

Solo seemed to know what was coming next. He visibly deflated and nodded preemptively in defeated acceptance before Rey could get a word in. But he held his tongue and waited for Rey’s retorts.

“There is no way you could possibly think that I would believe that,” she snapped, choosing to ignore his submissive body language so that she could justify her reaction. “Why would you want to help me?” She gestured to herself. “I’m Phasma’s competition. And you’re too loyal to your team to betray her interests. Which is _decidedly_ _not_ helping me beat her.”

Solo didn’t say anything, he just watched her, an uncomfortable expression on his face. He looked vulnerable, almost stricken. So unlike the Ben Solo she’d seen in tabloids and interviews.

She waited for him to say something —deny her allegations, anything—but he remained silent.

Rey’s eyes fluttered down, disappointment stinging her eyes when he failed to answer. That was more than enough of an acknowledgement that she had caught him in his lie. 

She scoffed, baffled over the fact that she even briefly wanted to let herself believe him and stalked away decisively, fuming over her loss and Ben Solo.

The whole time, she refused to even glance back once.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahh, so it begins. 
> 
> The Vans World Cup is a competition that takes place from the beginning of November (qualifiers) to the end of December. As of now, only men can compete in the three competitions:  
> -Hawaiian Pro at Haleiwa Beach Park November 13 – 24, 2020  
> -Vans World Cup of Surfing at Sunset Beach November 25 – December 7, 2020  
> -Billabong Pipe Masters at Banzai Pipeline December 8 – 20, 2020
> 
> And if the conditions are right, the Eddie Big Wave invitational is held any time from December to I think March (?) at Waimea Bay
> 
> Until 2010, women were able to compete as well. I think I've read that professional female surfers are advocating to rejoin the Vans World Cup, but I don't know how that is going. For now, they have a series of competitions of their own on Maui during the same time frame, called the Lululemon Maui Pro.
> 
> So that's why I spend time addressing the fact that our female characters are there on Oahu competing in the Vans World Cup. In this universe, us ladies have succeeded and gotten a place at the table once more and Rey and Co are PUMPED. 
> 
> Hope you enjoy! Please drop a comment or kudos if you wanna tell me how you feel ;)

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know what you think in the comments below! 
> 
> I will be leaving surf terms and pronunciations down here:
> 
> Haleiwa: (hall-ay-EE-va), the biggest town on the North Shore and location where one of the Vans Triple Crown surf competitions take place  
> 


End file.
